the roanoke star-sentinel

December 19, 2008 TheRoanokeStar.com

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I AM THEYMCA

Hi, I’m Kristen Simpsonand I teach in the Salem City school

system. I really enjoy coming to the Y and seeing the parents of my kids there, as well as many others from the school

community. We have so much fun sharing the Y together!

Merry Christmas!

MarinesGivingP2– Area Marines pull joyful duty by joining Children’s trust in distributing toys to local children.

Spreeholiday

P3– The Roanoke Valley YMCA and J.C. Penney host a children’s shopping spree.

WaitingAdventP9– The Reverend Barkley Thompson says that waiting expectantly is the only real way to the heart of Christmas.

TalentTaubman

P11– Roanoke Children’s Theatre takes root at the Taubman Musuem of Art.

Get the Roanoke Star

Sentinel delivered to your doorstep every

week for only $44 per year!

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PO Box 8338 Roanoke, VA 24014

Duane Howard loves “all things transportation,” especially when it comes to planes, and he’s pulling for the Virginia Museum of Transporta-tion. The former airline employee and southeast Roanoke neighborhood activist, a past Roanoke City Council candidate, has taken it upon himself to decorate a Christmas tree now on display in the front window of the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

Howard hopes it spurs people to come inside and pay the admission fee, so they can see the entire tree and all of the decorations he used. Most are from the Hallmark collector’s series he has acquired over the years. “Awe-somely beautiful ornaments,” said Howard, who has also offered some ornaments to be used for giveaway contests. He’s loaned the downtown museum some of his airline-related items in the past, although the avia-tion hall itself is still in development. Howard went through his attic and found more than enough ornaments

to decorate the VMT tree – and his own.

Norfolk Southern recent-ly issued a one million dol-lar challenge grant for the Virginia Museum of Trans-portation, with CEO Wick Moorman

telling a Chamber of Commerce au-dience that it may take three million

dollars to transform the VMT into a truly worthy facility.

Roanoke Mayor David Bowers also spoke about the museum

when he addressed the Southeast Ac-tion Forum recently, where Howard is a Vice-President. Bowers wants to see City Council come up with funds towards the one million dollar match. “It was a perfect tie-in,” said Howard, who told him about the decorated Christmas tree. “[Bowers] was excited about that.”

The activist and one time City Council meeting regular, who admits that recent home ownership has made him less confrontational, hopes to see the city and the valley rally around the under- funded museum: “When you love transportation like I do, you want to see it be successful.”

Santa Claus at VMT: Santa will be at the Transportation Museum (on Salem Avenue) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, with free gifts for the first 200 children who come to visit. Admission is only $1 for the day. Guests are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items for donation to the Presbyterian Community Center Food Pantry in southeast Roanoke.

[Downtown Christmas]

The Christmas Tree at VMT is decorated with a variety of transportation themed ornaments provided by Roanoke resident Duane Howard.

Jingle Bell Run

Roanoke City’s self-imposed debt policy testedRoanoke City Council members

had their first peek at a dismal prelim-inary budget during a Monday morn-ing briefing, presented by Director of Finance Ann Shawver.

A previous Council’s self-imposed debt policy, adopted in 1999, looms large. It states that the tax-supported general obligation debt service will not exceed 10% of general fund ex-penditures. Growth assumptions have declined significantly since the last projections were calculated: a 1% de-cline is projected for 2010, followed by growth of 2% in 2011 and 3%

thereafter.Director of Finance Jesse Hall ex-

plained the 10% debt service cap in an e-mail dated June 23, 2006: nam-ing the many school projects planned, including the two new high schools. Hall said, “we were aware at that time that these big ticket items, in addition to a number of city projects included in our capital improvement program, would significantly change our debt position. Thus we realized that a debt policy would be an important point of reference, one that our bond rating

agencies approved of, as we proceeded with a City Council-adopted capital improvement program that included these and other projects such as stadi-um financing, the ‘Biomed Park’, curb,

gutter and sidewalks, storm drains, a new police build-ing, new fire stations, and various other projects.”

“There is no room for any addition-al projects,” said Shawver on Monday, as she advised Council to reprioritize: “if the Market building [becomes] a priority … then something else has to come off.”

2009 Revenues expected to decline include the sales tax, personal prop-erty and business license taxes. Fis-cal year 2010 revenue is expected to decline even further. The loss of state funding now stands at $1.4 million. Governor Tim Kaine is expected to release additional cuts for 2010 in his December 17th budget proposal and localities could get more bad news shortly thereafter.

[City Council]

Why Roanoke should support Ukrops

> CONTINUEDP3: Budget

Twelve-hundred participants donned festive holiday costumes last Sat-urday for a chilly 5K morning run,

joining friends and neighbors in support of the Arthritis Foundation’s mission to pre-vent, control and cure arthritis and related diseases. The occasion was the Roanoke– Humana Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis.

Participants and local sponsors raised

over $55,000 to help the 46 million Ameri-cans 1.5 million Virginians impacted by ar-thritis. This year’s event exceeded all expec-tations with the number of participants and funds raised. Last year the event had 864 participants that raised $44,000 – this year’s Jingle Bell run saw an increase of 50% in par-ticipation and 25% in funds raised compared

Photo by Gene Marrano

A happy group of reindeer gather in support of the Jingle Bell Run. The event in Roa-noke last week drew its largest crowd ever.

It’s not every day that citi-zens within a community re-ceive a notice advising them that a business needs their help if they are to continue operating, but such was the forthright notice issued by Ukrops last week.

According to comments left on valley me-dia websites and the “word on the street,” the effort to rally customers to their cause has been met with as wide a variety of responses as there are Ukrops take out desserts. Ranging from, “I re-ally like the store but I forget to go there,” to “it’s their fault for not selling beer and wine and being closed on Sundays . . .”

The latter point, which is often cited, holds little wa-ter in my view and Ukrops 29 other successful locations throughout Virginia prove it. There are just as many people and maybe more who will support a store like Ukrops for the fact that they aren’t open on Sundays and don’t sell alcohol, as there are those who insist on frequenting stores that do.

It’s a wonderful way to vote one’s conscience really – I’m

[Our Take]

Transportation museum showcases unique ornaments

By Gene [email protected]

Collectible Hallmark series ornaments on display

[Tree Trimmings]

> CONTINUEDP2: Ukrops

VWCC gives most perfect gift

Every Christmas season the holiday luncheon committee at Virginia Western Community College selects a local charitable organization as the recipient of its annual Giving Project. The proj-ect has provided organizations such as the Ronald McDonald House and the Roanoke Valley SPCA with donations of money and goods from employees and retirees of Virginia Western.

This year, the committee se-lected Sabrina’s Place, a Roa-noke center that was established to provide a safe, secure place for domestic violence victims

Sammi Rader, Sabrina’s Place program coordinator; Rebecca Balzer, Cave Spring High School senior; and Amy Balzer, assistant in the Virginia Western president’s office are surrounded by Giv-ing Project donations.

> CONTINUEDP3: VWCC > CONTINUED P2: Jingle Bell Run

Rev. Barkley Thomas

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to 2007. The Roanoke course went down Jefferson

Street from the Chamber of Commerce build-ing, over two bridges that span the train tracks to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital and back again. Overall male race winners included George Probst in first place (16:14), David Angell, second (16:24), and Andrew Parkins, third 17:09). Over-all female winners for the 3.1 mile (5K) course in-cluded Mary Cather Sowder in first place (20:33), Erin Wheeler, second (20:54), and Melissa Teeple, third 21:42).

During an after race party held at Center in the Square the highest fundraising award went to Spa Fit, which brought in $2600. The largest team award went to the Back Creek Elementary School Roadrunners, part of the “Girls on the Run” program, which brought out 78 students and their families. Student runners from other lo-cal schools including Grandin Court Elementary also participated. The highest individual fundraiser was Robin Rouse, who raised over $840 for her team, Brittany’s Brigade.


> Jingle Bell Run From page 1

> Ukrops From page 1Most would agree that we live in a time

when people need someone to look up to. People who, through the very nature of their actions, improve the lives of others - making the world a little brighter and a little better. That spirit was in action dur-ing the Children’s Trust/CASA’s annual holiday gift distribution last Wednesday. From the spirit of generosity that lives in the hearts of all those who supported the Marines’ toy collection efforts, to the love and patience of the educators and admin-istrators who serve these children year-round; to the respect and guidance of the advocates and mentors. It gives me hope.

This is the fourth year Children’s Trust (CASA/CAC) has partnered with the Ma-rines for the Toys for Tots event. The ob-jective is to offer gifts – and some holiday cheer -- to children living away from their parents, often in foster homes. Book dona-tions from Barnes and Noble, alongside a toy drive by Valley View Grande allowed them to provide fun and educational gifts for 75 vulnerable children and families in our area.

In recent months, the Children's Advo-cacy Center of Roanoke Valley (CAC) and Roanoke Valley Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) joined forces to be-come “Children’s Trust.”

“Both organizations have dedicated years of service to preventing abuse against

Roanoke's children and advocat-ing on behalf of those who have been mistreated,” says Linda Moody, Children’s Trust Director of Development.

“With such a legacy of success, we can think of no better benefit to our children than to combine efforts to allow for a seamless con-tinuum of care,” she concluded.

Children’s Trust is charged with the mission of preventing and re-ducing the incidence and trauma of child maltreatment; to pro-vide support to families through education; and to be a voice for a child in court through trained volunteer advocates. The CAC has been a leader in child abuse prevention in the Roanoke Val-ley and has offered a multidisci-plinary team approach to ensur-ing the safety of children in the community through innovative education programs and qual-ity public awareness activities. CASA has been the child's voice in court for thousands of Roa-noke Children and is comprised of dedicated volunteers with a goal of improving the quality of life for the abused and neglected. Each advocate serves as a constant companion to support

a child throughout the often long and difficult court pro-cess.

Anyone witness-ing this festive event at the Brambleton Center couldn’t help but notice the genu-ine care for these children and fami-lies that filled the

room. Children giggled and played with members of the Roanoke Marines, Bravo Company and CAC board members and staff (dressed as Frosty and Santa). Sev-eral read aloud to the group and the faces of grateful parents glowed with apprecia-tion.

Marines are known for “leading the charge” when it’s most needed and their efforts in Roanoke are certainly appreci-ated by the families and children whose lives they touch every year.

Area marines bring joy of Christmas to children

By Stephanie [email protected]

no stranger to a glass of beer or wine but the culture’s gross over-obsession and often over-consumption of alcohol turns me off to the point that I truly enjoy supporting a store with values like Ukrops. As for Sundays, I am a Sabbath believer and don’t so much as pump gas if it can be avoided. But it might take a month or so of Bible study to convince you on that one.

As far as “forgetting they’re there,” that particular customer may have a point. Ukrops marketing has been a bit inconsis-tent and given their somewhat “off the beaten path” location, it seems like staying before the public with a more consistent approach might be required. From what I gather from mar-keting personnel in Ukrop’s Richmond headquarters, some re-vamped marketing may be on the way.

But Roanokers need to do their part as well – for in addition to being a uniquely wonderful place to grocery shop, Ukrops is one of the best corporate citizens a community could ever hope for. Many already know the story – as Christian busi-nessmen James and Bobby Ukrop have built their business on core values that are modeled from the top down and extend well into the lives of their employees and customers as well as the greater communities in which their stores are located.

I encourage you to go online and read their mission state-ment – it will not only astound you but make you proud that there are still such business owners around today (think Wall Street lately) and that they have selected Roanoke as a com-munity in which they would like to do business.

The question that seems to remain is whether Roanokers will appreciate it enough to go out of their way to “remember” and support a store that doesn’t just talk the talk but rather intentionally and actively walks the walk.

I recently heard a wonderfully applicable expression, “What you believe is not what you say – it’s what you do . . .”

I think Ukrops’ actions have demonstrated that premise quite well.

I wonder if enough Roanokers will.

By Stuart [email protected]

Compassion for the homeless and thirty years ex-perience as a hairdresser are among the reasons Sha-ron Mirtaheri helped the Rescue Mission create two hair salons. An idea that came to her, while touring the Rescue Mission with Development Director Lee Clark, has turned into something bigger than Mir-taheri ever imagined. During that tour, she remem-bers asking Clark if they had room for a hair salon. “Yes, actually,” he said, they had room for two.

Thanks to Mirtaheri and her organization, Angels with Scissors, there are now three hydraulic chairs in the women’s shelter salon and two chairs in the men’s shelter, complete with mats, supplies and two hairdressers volunteering their time.

The chairs and equipment were donated to the Mission by area salons. Mirtaheri first talked to Su-san Brown at Gone CoCo who recommended talk-ing to Veronica Underwood of First St Salon Inc. Underwood “called at least 20 salons--she called everyone she knew,” Mirtaheri said.

“My little pea idea—God turned into a big thing,” Mirtaheri said.

She said she originally planned to raise $2,000 to $3,000 for a couple of hydraulic chairs. But when hairdressers and salons gave in excess of what they expected, she was able to do far more.

Donations included chairs, mats and accessories. Scott Kitts of The Salon Ltd ordered towels when asked to help with the project.

The Angels with Scissors’ first “Cut-a-Thon”, held in May of 2005, involved 43 salons and 150 hairstylists, according to Mirtaheri. The event raised $6,000 toward the permanent salon, as well as $6,000 worth of professional products. She said even salon clients donated money to the cause.

The 2006 “Cut-a-Thon” event netted $2.000, even without Mir-taheri’s personal visits to each salon. Mirtaheri hopes that Angels with Scissors will have a “Cut-a-Thon” every May for Rescue Mis-

sion Month and a fundraiser every October for other charitable organizations like the Children’s Miracle Network.

“God did all of that. He just took it on. I just hap-pened to be the person who pulled it all together,” said Mirtaheri.

“Hairdressers usually have no health insurance,” she said. “One or two illnesses and you’re on the streets,” she said as she explained why hairdressers as a group are so empathetic toward the homeless.

Mirtaheri is a senior at Hollins College majoring in studio art with a minor in creative writing. She plans to graduate next summer and hopes to have more time to devote to Angels with Scissors then. She said much of her communication with the sa-lons and hairdressers is by phone--because many don’t use computers yet--which takes more time.

Eddie Sparks, manager of Cost Cutters at Towers, cuts hair at the women’s shelter once a month. “It’s a

great feeling to help someone else. It’s a way to give back,” he said. Lisa Vann of Roanoke works with Sparks. She said she heard

about the need for hairdressers in a newspaper article about three years ago. She believes that for her clients “their history is not their destiny.” Cutting hair at the Rescue Mission is “an opportunity to share God with them—to tell them how much Jesus loves them.”

More volunteer hair cutters are needed at the Rescue Mission salons. Mitraheri said there were 13 volunteers at one time, but that number has dwindled over time. She said individuals can volunteer, or salons may choose to commit their hairdressers on a rotating basis. Hair professionals who can help are encouraged to contact Leslie Littlefield, Volunteer Coordinator at the Rescue Mission at 777-7651.

Angels with Scissors give of themselves year round

By Joan [email protected]

Volunteer Judy Roberts provides a trim at the Roa-noke Resuce Mission.

A volunteer tells a story during the Toys for Tots program.

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December 5, 2008

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The Roanoke Star-Sentinel

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ymcaroanoke.org

I AM THEYMCA

My name is Will Mohr,and I’m a college sophomore. My

family has been part of the Y since we

moved here, and now I’m working as

a Y volunteer, helping with summer

camp. I plan to go to Law School.

Looming over the sprawl-

ing suburb known as Bon-

sack, Roanoke County cut

the ribbon on Read Mountain

Preserve recently. The park

features 250 donated acres,

154 from developer Fralin

& Waldron, with another 90

coming from a private land-

owner. The centerpiece of

the new tract is the 1.9-mile

trail up the mountainside to

Buzzard’s Rock, an outcrop-

ping that provides views of

the Roanoke Regional Air-

port and the valley floor.On the first Sunday af-

ter the park was dedicated

a gravel parking lot was

jammed with several dozen

cars. Hikers of all ages filled

the somewhat narrow trail,

which is a moderate-to-

somewhat strenuous climb.

Much of the 1.9-mile path

(3.8 miles roundtrip) to the

2,350 Buzzard’s Rock is in

the woods, but there are sev-

eral points along the way to

glimpse views of the Bonsack

area or of downtown Roa-

noke’s skyline. The trailhead

is located off Crumpacker

Drive in Bonsack, accessed

from Rt. 460 off Hunting

Ridge Road.Volunteers built the trail,

which includes rock steps in

various locations. Additional

trails are planned for the fu-

ture, some following old Ci-

vilian Conservation Corps

paths built decades ago.

More parking areas may be

in the works as well. Mem-

bers of the Read Mountain

Alliance and Pathfinders for

Greenways were on hand for

last Thursday’s ribbon cut-

ting as well. “Without their

efforts the park would have

not become a reality,” said Ja-

net Scheid, Roanoke County

Greenway Planner.The “passive recreation

park,” is now the largest in

the county. Read Mountain

stretches from Botetourt

County through Bonsack

and on towards Roanoke

City. Plans call for the pre-

serve to be linked to the Tin-

ker Creek Greenway. When

complete, the trail makes its

way through the city, past

Hollins University and on to

Carvin’s Cove.

[Race for Rescue Mission]


Volunteer trail builders join Roanoke County officials for the ribbon cutting.

Rescue Mission’s “Drumstick Dash”

continues to grow by leaps and bounds

Legislative Program Meets Reality

Roanoke City Schools may face state budget cutsDelegate William Fralin, Delegate

Onzlee Ware, and State Senator John

Edwards were not optimistic on Monday

when they responded to the Roanoke

City School Board regarding their con-

cerns about reduced funding to schools.

School Board member Todd Putney

asked that divisions be permitted to ap-

ply for waivers from the Standards of

Accreditation (SOA) and the Standards

of Quality (SOQ) that are impacted by

funding cuts.

School Board Chairman, David Car-

son said that, “[Roanoke City Schools]

are looking at the state to grant us great

�exibility in meeting the Stan-

dards of Quality. In particular,

if we are going to get our state

funding slashed, then it seems

to us that rather than having

to continue meeting all of the rigid state

SOQs, the state should grant us �exibility

with respect to the some of them so that

we can use our limited money wisely.”

Carson has been an outspoken critic of

the Standards of Learning in the past as

an unfunded mandate.Putney stressed as a priority, fund-

ing raises for teachers, saying that this

re�ects directly on teacher morale and

“if you underpay people you will loose

them.”�ere was support for the

incentive to tie retaining stu-

dents’ driving privileges to

acceptable progress towards

graduation. “�ere needs to be some

teeth behind this in order to help the

school system increase the graduation

rate,” said Putney. Fralin said he would

take Carson up on his o�er to come to

Richmond to lobby for this bill.

“We also continue to struggle with get-

ting our test scores,” said Putney, adding

[Roanoke City]

River’s Edge �ood wall weakness discussed

W hen does 4,500 plus 227 plus

200 equal 150,000?When you’re tallying up

the numbers for the Roanoke Rescue Mis-

sion’s 2008 Drumstick Dash.

Some 5,000 runners, walkers, volunteers

and pets enjoyed the 3.1 mile trek (5K)

through the streets of downtown Roanoke

on Thanksgiving Day, raising $150,000 to

help the Rescue Mission provide daily food,

shelter and recovery programs to those in

need. Sponsorships represented $90,000 of the

total raised, with title sponsor, Stellar One

contributing $15,000. Sponsorships are

Photo by Mary Ellen Apgar

Smiling ROTC volunteers were on hand to point the way.

�e US Army Corps of En-

gineers has warned that Flood

Wall 298, along Wiley Drive

across from the River’s Edge

complex, must be strength-

ened as part of the Roanoke

River Flood D a m a g e Reduct ion Project. In a morning brie�ng Monday,

Roanoke City Council listened

as Col. Je�erson Ryscavage,

Commander of the Wilming-

ton District and Greg Gri�th,

District engineer, explained

what needs to be done to ad-

[River’s Edge]

Photo by Valerie Garner

Col. Jefferson Ryscavage ex-

plains issues with Roanoke’s

flood wall on Monday

Wishneff to face charges by appointed prosecutorFormer Roanoke City Coun-

cilman Brian Wishne� has been

under investigation regarding

the now infamous “Joe Smith”

full-page political ads placed

in �e Roanoke Times and �e

Roanoke Star-Sentinel. Wish-

ne� lost his reelection bid to

Councilman Court Rosen by

only 114 votes in May 2008.�e two misdemeanor

charges stem from Virginia

election laws that require dis-

closure within 12 days of gen-

eral election contributions for

an amount of $500 or more.

�e second charge is for not

disclosing the contribution at

all. �e full-page ads were sub-

stantially in excess of $500. To

have been charged with a felony

would have required proof that

Wishne� “intentionally” made

false statements when disclos-

ing his contributions.“Citizens for Sensible Deci-

sions,” a group that evolved

from the registered PAC “Citi-

zens for Sensible Stadium De-

cisions” that formed in support

of keeping Victory Stadium, is

said to have funded the ads.

Read Mountain Preserve becomes county’s largest park


> CONTINUEDP3: River’s Edge

> CONTINUEDP3: Wishneff

> CONTINUEDP2: Drumstick Dash

> CONTINUED P2: Education


John Edwards talks about budget

shortfalls.

SearchTalent

P3– Val and Suzi Sivkov have opened Metropolished,

a new talent agency in Roanoke.

Lessons

Life P6–New columnist Stepha-

nie Koehler discovers new

perspectives on human behavior and friendships.

Tipoff

HoopsP7– High school basketball tips

off in the valley as Cave Spring

defeats Lord Botetourt, 63-57

FairLifestyle

P10– Stuart Mease wants

you to spread the word about the upcoming Roanoke

Career and Lifestyle Fair

Get the Roanoke Star Sentinel delivered to your doorstep every

week for only $44 per year!400-0990

[email protected]

PO Box 8338 Roanoke, VA 24014

Stuart Mease

Stephanie Koehler

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Roanoke Starof

theWeekAmy Burkholder Spangler graduated from Patrick Henry High School in 1980 and the Virginia Western Dental As-sistant Program in 1982. She is married to Steve Spangler, Principal of Cave Spring High School, and they have two daughters, Ashley 16, and Sydney 13. Amy has been em-ployed as a dental assistant by Dr. William Deyerle for 26 years.Her favorite past times are spending time with family, keeping in touch with Tiki and Ronde Barber (who Steve coached when they played football for Cave Spring), church work, gardening and walking. They make their home in the Southwest area of Roanoke County.

By Jim BullingtonHave someone in mind for “Roanoke Star of the Week?”

E-mail Jim Bullington: [email protected]

Shawver said that em-ployee medical coverage for Roanoke City has increased by $800,000. City Manager Darlene Burcham said that if the fiscal situation improves the first priority would be to add back the half million dollar yearly increase that Council had committed for the schools. Burcham put it bluntly: “we will have to cut positions to balance the budget.” Hiring freezes are in place now, with the only ex-ception being public safety.

Sherman Stovall, Director of Management and Budget, wanted to “plant the seed” with suggestions of possible service reductions – reduced library and recreation pro-gram hours; mowing and refuse collection frequency; reduced Human Services and Cultural Agency funding in-creases; a possible library branch closing and leaf col-lection elimination.

Council members David Trinkle and Alvin Nash want-ed to see a more comprehen-sive list of possible reductions but Burcham didn’t want to

“wait on a list” and asked for Council’s input so she could present them with operation-al impacts.

Councilman Court Rosen asked about reallocating and/or pushing out the incremen-tal funding of some projects. Burcham indicated that this was a possibility but said, “there is no getting around that we are going to have to change the services we deliver - or the way we deliver them.” Rosen was adamant that this was the worst time to imple-ment any tax increases.

“We are going to look at all the moving parts,” said Burcham. “We are not go-ing to let the … debt service [exceed] your guidelines.” A financial planning work ses-sion is slated for February; the public will have to wait until April 30th to weigh-in on the recommended budget.

to bring their children for su-pervised visitation with a non-custodial parent. The center – a collaboration of Total Action Against Poverty and the City of Roanoke – also serves as a neu-tral exchange point for parents to pick up their children for visi-tations.

At a Dec. 5 luncheon spon-sored by Virginia Western’s Edu-cational Foundation, the holiday luncheon committee presented Sabrina’s Place with more than $500 in monetary donations and more than $500 worth of toys and supplies for the center. Representing Sabrina’s Place were Sammi Rader, program coordinator, and Annette Lewis, TAP’s senior vice president of programs and director of TAP This Valley Works.

“Because of Virginia Western and their generous donations, families at Sabrina’s Place now have a more welcoming and in-viting facility,” Rader said.

This year’s Giving Project do-nation was made all the more meaningful because the center is named for a Virginia Western graduate.

Sabrina’s Place is named in memory and honor of Sabrina Reed, a Roanoke woman who was shot and killed in 2005, by her estranged husband. Reed was a 1999 nursing graduate of Virginia Western. She went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Rad-ford University.

“We had no idea going into this that Sabrina went to school here,” said Amy Balzer, an as-sistant in the Virginia Western president’s office and member of the holiday luncheon com-mittee. “This ended up being the perfect Giving Project. We were giving back to someone who had actually been here.”

Designating the 2008 Giving Project to Sabrina’s Place was suggested by Balzer’s daughter Rebecca, a Cave Spring High School senior who has been a big supporter of the center since it opened last year. When the luncheon committee sent out a request for suggested recipients of this year’s Giving Project, Re-becca wrote a letter to the com-mittee recommending Sabrina’s Place.

Rebecca has been a proactive volunteer for the center, orga-nizing two toy drives and a coin collection drive for the center, and spending numerous hours painting the walls of visitation rooms and supply rooms at the center.

“She is very passionate about this,” Amy Balzer said. “She’ll be going away to college next year and she’s already told her sister, who is in the eighth grade, that she’ll have to take over for her.”

The purpose of Sabrina’s Place “is so necessary,” Balzer said. “There is no reason for people to be in danger in this day. I’m all behind the center too.”

> VWCC From page 1

> Budget From page 1

By Valerie [email protected]

Tribute to the 2008 Wil-liam Fleming Varsity Foot-ball Team: William Fleming High School’s varsity football squad was honored by Roa-noke City Council on Mon-day for winning the Western Valley District Champion-ship, and for completing the season with a 9-2 overall re-cord. Vice-Mayor Sherman Lea recognized head football coach Rob Senseney, who overcame the disadvantage of not even having a practice home field.

Lea said “[Senseney] had a lot of opportunity to com-plain …he did this all while making the transition to a higher level, AAA.” Senseney is also the 2008 Western Dis-trict Valley Coach of the Year. Fleming gets its own football facility next year.

Technology Department Recognized: for the sixth time since 2001 the Roanoke City Technology Depart-ment has been awarded first place as a “digital city.” This year the department distin-guished itself by implement-ing wireless technology with access points for police, WiFi on the Smartway bus and the Starcam on Mill Mountain.

Celebration and Presenta-tion by Roanoke Library Ad-visory Board: The Roanoke Library Advisory Board, Roanoke Library Founda-tion, Roanoke School Board, Roanoke Friends of the Li-brary recognized the work and dedication of Councils past and present in sup-port of the Library Master Plan. Recognized was the award-winning Valley View e-branch and Garden City e-branch that have attracted more than 25,000 visitors in the past year.

The Jackson Park branch and Gainsboro branches, with new community and study rooms, additional books and Teen Centers should be complete in early 2009. The Library Master Plan calls for new “Superbranch” and “Storefront” branches, both state-of-the-art model facili-ties.

Roanoke City Has Second Highest Pregnancy Rate in state: Brooks Michael, the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coordinator or Carilion Clinic, spoke on new data that shows Roanoke City has 71.1 teen pregnancies per 1000 females. In 2007 there were 386 teen pregnancies overall. “If the trend contin-ues over the course of the

next five years Roanoke City will have almost 2000 teen pregnancies, which is about the size of one of our high schools,” said Michael to City Council.

Teenage pregnancy ser-vices cost Virginia taxpayers $177 million in 2004. The city continues to have the second highest teen pregnancy rate in Virginia, out of the 130 cities and counties surveyed. Michael named the four programs that combat teen pregnancy in Roanoke and said that for the first time in years not only Roanoke City, but the entire nation has experienced an increase in teen pregnancy rates. Teen-aged girls who take one of their programs have a 95% success rate in avoiding teen pregnancy said Michael, who asked that funding for these programs, some targeted for elimination, be included in the City’s legislative package. “The future does not look good for the programs here in Roanoke City,” said Mi-chael.

Swap of City-Owned Land at Countryside Golf Club with Roanoke Airport: A public hearing was held on the swap of 17 acres of City-owned property, part of Countryside Golf Course, for 15 acres of Airport prop-erty. The equally- appraised property ($214,000) was part of a deal to widen the Run-way 6 protection zone. It also comes with a deal that allows the city to lease the entire tract for continued use as a golf course. City Man-ager Darlene Burcham said the Roanoke Regional Air-port Commission would be responsible for maintaining tree heights on the leased property.

Formal Presentation of Roanok City’s Citizen of the Year: Estelle McCadden, 82, was formally presented and proclaimed Citizen of the Year for 2008. As detailed earlier in the Roanoke Star-Sentinel, McCadden is a neighborhood activist and is well known by all the neigh-borhood organizations. The retired teacher’s motto? “May the work I do speak for me, then my living will not have been in vain.”

Roanoke City CounCil news


Smiles lit up the faces of 31 underpriv-ileged children from the YMCA Magic Place program when they were treated to a holiday shopping spree on Thursday – thanks to a generous grant from J.C. Penney supporting the after school pro-gram for school aged children.

Braving the rain, 14 volunteers and staff met in the entrance to J.C. Penney at Tanglewood Mall waiting for the bus filled with excited kids to arrive. The event was organized by Jackie Grant, YMCA Associate Executive Director was clearly a highlight for everyone in-volved.

"As times get tough for many families, the YMCA Magic Place will always be there to provide quality child care sup-port," Grant said. "Now, more than ever, the YMCA's many services to our com-munity are touching lives. These kids represent hundreds more whom we are helping every day. We appreciate every-thing we are able to do for them through the support of our many partners, such as JCPenney."

Each volunteer, armed with a previ-ously prepared wish list complete with sizes, was partnered with several chil-dren ranging from kindergarteners to 5th graders. In an instant, the sound of giggling kids filled aisles of the store as children took their time picking out their “perfect” items.

Each with only $30 to spend, these children were amazingly mindful of making good choices with limited re-sources. However, the reality of our cur-rent economic state proved to be an up-side for these young shoppers, as any of the items on their list were already dras-

tically reduced for the holiday sales.“J.C. Penney has always been involved

with community programs,” said Rick Bessette, store manager. “The After School Foundation donates nine million dollars nationwide to underprivileged children. We have been fortunate to be able to support the valuable programs at the YMCA and give back to our lo-cal community. It’s wonderful,” he con-cluded.

The YMCA Magic Place offers a qual-ity after school program in a safe, sup-portive environment that fosters the physical, social and emotional growth

of each child. School aged children ex-perience the joy of interaction with their peers while guided in daily learning ad-ventures by positive role models. With supervised homework and tutoring, ath-letic activities, varied indoor games and projects it enables parents to have a feel-ing of confidence that their child is being well cared for.

This is the fourth year in a row that J.C. Penney has partnered with the YMCA for the holiday shopping spree -- bring-ing joy and smiles to over 100 under-served and deserving families.

Judge Strickland assists two eager shoppers at the YMCA / J.C. Penney shopping spree.

Roanoke YMCA hosts children's shopping spree

PeRsPeCtive | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 12/19/08 TheRoanokeStar.com

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Back in the day when we were young moms and expecting moms,

we were already laying the groundwork for raising a gen-eration of kids who think the world revolves around them. We pictured preparing our aca-demically gifted children for the Ivy League, or for the world of the symphonic or the arts. What I never pictured was a passion for…Frisbee?

I remember a friend expos-ing her unborn baby to Mozart and Beethoven through head-phones wrapped around her growing belly, supposedly lull-ing her child into a peaceful and, of course, advanced intel-lectual state. Doing things like this helped us to believe that our Harvard-bound baby was well ahead of the game! I wish I could have focused on things like that, but my thoughts were clouded with more urgent mat-ters like: “when will I not feel like throwing up?”; why won't I throw up?”; I will never, ever do this again!”; and, “I take it back: I don't want a baby!”

No one at our house ended up heading to Harvard. But I have heard

William and Mary called the "Harvard of the South." When we dropped off son #1 several years ago, we were in the midst of the only unnamed hurricane I have ever experienced. It was terrible. There was little chance for good-byes or last minute platitudes. We could only rush

to get rain-soaked be-longings to their desti-nation. Then the mo-ment was gone.

Back at home, I pic-tured the challenges of college life: buying books, meeting new friends and study-ing for impossible tests. But it soon be-came clear that all of those details were secondary to the main reason for being at this prestigious institution: Ul-timate Frisbee. For those of you snickering at the word "Fris-bee," I hear you. It sounds like it should be in a category with badminton and ping pong.

This is a common misconcep-tion. Ultimate Frisbee is serious business. Neither rain nor sleet, nor injuries, nor homework or tests, nothing will keep an “Ul-timate” player from playing his/her game. This illustrious sport is reportedly the brain child of Joel Silver, who hails from Lafayette which he attended in the early 1970’s. Our friend Jeff, a Lafayette alum, frequently reminds us of this important connection. I'll be sure and call him when my son tears him-self up trying to win a point, is maimed and unable to graduate from college.

The thrill of the match is contagious. These guys have to work hard to keep the Fris-bee in play. it requires constant running and skillful Frisbee throwing. It’s a battle out there.

When that disc is airborne, you've never seen so many guys flocking in for the killer catch—all of them oblivious that they are on a collision course with several other

bodies charging in their direction. Ultimate is a self-

officiated sport, which adds to the intensity when players challenge their opponent's call. Truth be told, it is the epitome of collegiate cool. It also makes for a really great Bumper sticker for your parents, as in “Ultimate Mom.”

It was gratifying to see that our own talented amateur Ultimate player did, in fact, write papers while in college. Said papers, written for philosophy classes, were increasingly difficult to follow. I think my son emailed them to me to edit in part be-cause he was too lazy to catch some of the technical errors af-ter staying up all night writing, and also to let his mother know that he has a working brain. I began to see that it was work-ing so well that I needed to take Motrin immediately after read-ing them. This twisted philoso-phy stuff really got to me. Ever tried to engage in a discourse on legal positivism vs. natural law? It’ll make you head over to Fris-bee practice early.

Babies, self-absorbed parents, Frisbee, and heady philosophy have, in a very circuitous way, reminded me of the Christmas story.

Here are my $64 questions:Was that baby born 2,000

years ago simply precocious or was there perhaps something more going on?

Is there more to life than how much we can play?

Do our man-made philoso-phies really suffice in the end?

How do we fix our fixation upon our selves?

Is it time to slow down and decide whether we care?

At the risk of being “Un-PC,” Merry Christmas!!

Now, that’s the Ultimate!

Contact Cheryl [email protected]

Merry “Ultimate” to you!

Cheryl Hodges

Being a judge is not al-ways a fun job, even on the best of days.

You see people at their abso-lute worst, and rarely does the judge do anything that makes everybody happy. On Christ-mas Eve, it’s even worse than usual. Everyone wants to get out of there and go home to their families. But it doesn’t always work out that way.

Finally, it was the last case on the docket and it was a familiar face to everyone in the court. The judge had told Ronald--many times--that if he didn’t mend his ways, he was going to end up in real trouble. Most of his problems had to do with being drunk and disor-derly, and even trips to Honor Court, a special session run by Alcoholics Anonymous, had not curbed Ronald’s drinking. Now, here he was on Christ-mas Eve, standing in front of the judge--yet again.

“Ronald, I told you if you showed up here one more time this year, I was going to send you to jail. And here you are with the same old story.”

Ronald, a man in his thirties, looked as ashamed as he was disheveled. He always looked ashamed. He always promised it would not happen again . . . but, invariably, it did.

“It’s Christmas Eve, Judge. My family is expecting me home tonight. Please . . . please don’t put me in jail, especially tonight!” he pleaded.

The judge looked at the bai-liff, already shifting from one foot to the other and looking at the clock. He didn’t want Ronald to go to jail; that would put him even later going home. The judge didn’t want to do it either, but he had meant what he said and there was no way around it. He had been more than lenient with Ronald dur-ing the past year and now it was time to make his words stick.

“Ten days in jail, then six months’ probation. If you’re back here during probation, I’ll give you thirty days. I’m sorry, Ronald, but I meant what I said.”

The bailiff rolled his eyes as he walked over to escort Ron-ald to the city jail.

“What about my family? It’s Christmas time. They won’t know what to do if I’m not there,” Ronald called over his shoulder as he left the court-room.

The judge didn’t answer. He didn’t know anything to say, but as he was driving home, he thought about it. Ronald lived with his wife and three small boys, about the age of

his own sons, near the East End shops. It would be a bleak time for that family, there was no doubt of that. As the judge turned into his neighborhood with all the beautiful bright lights, he had a sense of antici-pation of getting home to his own sons and wife. The Christmas ham would be cooking, the boys would be putting the last-minute touches on the decora-tions. It would be wonderful time together.

But the bleakness of Ron-ald’s family problem seeped into his mind to the point he really couldn’t think about anything else. He knew that thought was going to suck the joy right out of his Christmas. When he got home, he could smell the wood smoke from the fireplace and it was begin-ning to snow. It was just about perfect . . . perfect except he knew the evening would have to be different from what the family had planned.

“Come on, boys. Get your mother. We’ve got an errand to run.”

“What about dinner, the ham? We’re ready to eat,” they chorused.

“Later. Right now, I want each of you to go get a toy that you really like and wrap it up. Get something nice, some-thing you would like to get if it were going to be your only present.”

“What’s going on?” asked his wife, coming out of the kitchen.

“A little Christmas cheer, my love. Get the ham, some gro-ceries and put on your coat. We’re making a call to East End.”

When they arrived, the house looked even more dis-mal than he had imagined. There was one light on in the front room and they could see through the door the fam-ily was sitting on the sofa, the only piece of furniture in the room, staring at the wall. He knocked on the door, the boys dancing behind him in the cold.

“Hello, I’m the judge from City Court and I know that Ronald isn’t going to be home for a while, so we brought you a few things to tide you over.”

The lady looked surprised, then suspicious, but she stepped aside. The house was freezing.

“Gee, it’s cold in ere. Isn’t your furnace working?”

“I guess so, but I haven’t

been able to get a fire started all day in it, so we’re just trying to keep warm the best we can.”

He turned to his wife. “While you’re putting the grocer-ies up and showing her about the ham,

we’ll see what we can do about the furnace.” There

was no Christmas tree, so he turned to his sons and said, “Just put the presents on the sofa.” Ronald’s children looked at them, wondering if they were for them.

The basement was a colos-sal mess, empty beer cans ev-erywhere, as well as expensive whiskey bottles. If Ronald spent his money on food rath-er than booze, they wouldn’t be in this fix, he thought to himself. The boys found wood in the yard, half covered with snow, and with some dry kin-dling from under the front porch, they were able to get the fire started. As the wa-ter in the boiler heated, they could hear the pipes creaking as they expanded.

After they got upstairs, the house was beginning to warm up and the children seemed to like the toys his sons had brought. “We’ll check back in a few days and see how you’re doing,” he said. “I know this is a tough time for you, but I hope you have a good Christ-mas, even if it’s not too mer-ry.”

On the way home, one of the boys asked what they would have for their Christmas Eve dinner, since they had given away their ham.

“Don’t worry about it,” their mother said. “It was just a pic-nic ham. We’ve got plenty of soup and other things. We’ll just have a different kind of dinner this year. Who knows? Maybe it will become a tradi-tion.”

The snow was falling harder when they got home. The walk into the house was as smooth as any white comforter, their departing footprints all cov-ered. When they got to the front door, they were surprised to see it standing slightly ajar.

“I was sure I locked it,” the judge commented, as they stamped the snow from their feet. When they walked into the foyer, on the hall table sat a fully cooked Smithfield ham. There was no note about from whom it had come.

Contact Hayden [email protected]

The Judge at Christmas

Hayden Hollingsworth

Find the answers online: TheRoanokeStar.com Have a clue and answer you’d like to see? email:

[email protected]

Star~Sentinel Crossword

By Don Waterfield

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ACROSS

1 Soft drink brand 7 Render harmless

13 Frog predecessor 15 Circles the zoo and has

only had one accident. 16 Tv show 17 Tack 18 Water (Spanish) 19 Comes before a vowel 20 Chichi 22 Hindu religious teacher 24 A great sci-fi writer and

Roanokes own. 26 Killed in action 27 Clan 28 Constrictor snake 29 Slaves 32 Boxer Muhammad 33 Truant student game 35 Small scoop 37 Orbit part

39 Lubricate 40 Night bird 41 Peacekeepers 44 Et __ 47 Thicket 48 Estimated time of arrival 50 Smells 52 American Cancer Society

(abbr.) 53 Prepared food 55 Unrefined metal 56 Alter 58 Strangely 59 Skier's need 60 Tuberculosis 61 Own 63 Realm 65 Richmond locale 66 Let down 68 S American country 70 Used the doorway 71 Oar

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1 Beef servings 2 Harassed 3 Advertisement 4 Active 5 Foot extension 6 List of highly desired

guests 7 Calf 8 Note of debt 9 Replace a striker

10 I see 11 A 410 mile long river that

travels through Roanoke 12 Day of the week 14 Enfold 15 African country 21 Tropical edible root 23 Cause of sickness 25 Band instrument 30 Runs freely 31 Ooze 33 Instructional method (2

wds.) 34 Eyed 36 Bullfight cheer 38 Poet Edgar Allen 41 Real Estate key holder 42 Church part 43 Required 44 Lilly-like plants 45 The castle in chess 46 Estimated Time of __ 47 Rook 49 Little bit 51 Bun topping seed 53 Stirred 54 Pancake topper 57 Sharpen by rubbing 59 Spoken 62 To be 64 Time period 67 Wisconsin (abbr.) 69 North Dakota (abbr.)

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PeRsPeCtiveTheRoanokeStar.com 12/19/08 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |

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It IS the weather after all. But it seems that for the winter of 2008-9, for

what it's worth, the consen-sus of opinion is that it will be "colder and wetter" than usual for much of the eastern US.

The first predictions I heard that southwest Virginia was in for a doozy of a winter was because of the productive and abundant summer we just had. I'd never heard that con-nection before, but it makes sense.

"Oh yeah" said one local old-timer, "if we have a bum-per crop of walnuts, the gar-dens are full of produce and apple trees hanging heavy, why, that's nature's way of pro-viding for the wild creatures in the hard winter we'll be having." (Paradoxically, there were NO acorns over most of Virginia and the East this summer.)

That summer provision for a hard winter seems logically efficient on the part of natu-ral providence, merciful at the hand of a caring God whose eye is on the sparrow (if not the squirrels of '08) and poetic to the romantics among us. But is it accurate and should we lay up more of those po-tatoes, apples and veggies than we would ordinarily keep in the root cellar to see us through the hard, cold and snowy months to come?

Of course we would not be good rural mountain folk if we did not con-sider in our prog-nostication what the wooly bear caterpil-lars tell us is coming our way, but I could never keep straight their supposed black versus brown message.

Consequently, my Rule of the Wooly Bear has always been that, when I see them in great urgency crossing the roads seeking shelter in Oc-tober (and to my wife's hor-ror swerve to miss them), no matter what the mix of brown to black, it will be more or less cold sooner or later and I'll need a furry coat like theirs to keep me warm.

To predict tomorrow's weather, look at today's. The Amish say, "August fog blooms winter's snow." Wow. That means folks over on perpetu-ally-foggy Walnut Knob along the Parkway are in for it, while we here on Goose Creek, not so much.

Joe Bastardi, chief long-range forecaster for Accu-Weather, is calling for one of the coldest, snowiest winters in years in the East (that's just barely north of us) that will be one to tell your grandchil-dren about. (He didn't men-

tion anything about New Orleans where it snowed the other day for the first time in 19 years!) Follow-ing an active hurri-cane summer and with currently cool-er South Pacific and Gulf waters, some places will surely see a colder, wetter winter.

Or not.In the end, we must augur

the future months' weather from all the signs at our dis-posal and take our chances. Whimsy or wisdom, brain or heart? Wet finger in the wind or the home anemometer dial on your desk? Your guess is as good as any.

We'll hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Hun-ker down, neighbors. Keep the snow shovel handy just in case. Have plenty of cocoa on hand, bring in an extra cat and toss another log on the fire.

Because three black crows called on a clear and cloudless day from the roof of the barn in October, I predict an espe-cially pleasant third month of the year by and by if we can just hang on through the hard or not-so-hard winter of '08. See you on the other side.

Contact Fred [email protected]

Whither Winter Weather? It's Anybody's Guess in '08

Fred First

Some say beans are the magical fruit, but in our house, it's the much

more colorful, flavorful clem-entine. Oh, my darling. There are several things that mark the holiday season for us—my wife's homemade beverage concoction “Russian Tea,” her Mom-Mom's mixture of orange, pineapple, and lemon juices, tea, and spices, served hot; a house full of knick-knacks and decorations, all put into place promptly on Black Friday; eat-ing “monkey bread,” homemade sweet rolls and egg casserole on Christmas Day; and clemen-tines. For those of you not in on the secret, clementines are tiny mandarin oranges, easy to peel, usually seedless, sweet as candy and a favorite snack. Sold in neat wooden boxes, they're only available (and affordable) during the winter, thus my con-nection of them to the holiday season.

The Perry Boys have discov-ered clementines. Being the more dexterous of the two, Seth is more skilled at peeling them, while Kevin is better at eating them, being our house gour-

mand. The other evening after din-ner, Seth told me he “needed something else,” code for “I didn't eat my dinner and want some junk food.” We headed into the kitchen and I offered him a clem-entine. He grabbed one from the box, and Kevin, joining the party, grabbed two. We all sat down in the big, overstuffed chair by the fire-place in the living room, Kevin poking holes in his clementine with his thumbs and Seth mak-ing tiny piles of fragrant orange skin.

Soon, Kevin and Seth were back in the kitchen, pulling more clementines from the box lying on the “Nee Nee table,” the round table my mother gave us when we needed more counter space. Back to the chair. Citrus peel piled high as the juice ran down Kevin and Seth's faces, each boy keeping his tidy little segments in their own piles, Kevin borrowing from Seth's pile when his ran low. And back

to the kitchen for more. Juice ran from face to shirt to pants. An old quilt from my childhood served as our plate, napkin, and trash can to keep stains off the velvety white chair.

There have been times in my life when I did not live in the moment, not pausing to allow

the spontaneity and of joy of the experience to permeate me. Not knowing that I would one day look back on that time with bittersweet fondness and long-ing. And there have been times when I've had the good sense to soak up the moment and let the warmth sink in like the sum-mer sun on the beach. This was one of those times, watching the pure delight of two little boys peeling and eating fruit, one of the simplest of all nature's plea-sures.

Clementines are the most magical fruit.

Contact David [email protected]

David Perry

Simple moments provide greatest joy

Over the past several weeks it has been quite interesting to

hear comments about Christ-mas and the current economic struggles that we are facing. Some parents mention how they are not able to do as much for their kids this year and chil-dren talk about not getting all of the toys they really want. On the other end of the spectrum are those who want to project to their children that nothing has changed and are determined to buy or provide yet another Christmas day filled with every kind of gift and toy imaginable. There seems to be this concern among many that our children should be protected this Christ-mas season from the economic realities around us and that it would cause great suffering for them to experience a less com-mercial Christmas. I would suggest that this is a wonderful time to teach a few good lessons that can last our children a life-time.

Last week a young girl was talking to me about Christmas and said “You know, it’s not like there is anything that I really need anyway.” Not only was I pleasantly surprised by her wis-dom at such a young age, but even more delighted when she stated that not getting as much this year made her appreciate more the things she already had. It was obvious that her parents had taken this opportunity to discuss the financial issues in the world around us today. This knowledge did not develop a sense of fear or hopelessness in her, it gave her perspective. Per-spective that you can’t always have what you want and should be appreciative for what you al-ready have and glad that your needs are met. What a power-ful way to fight against the over-powering sense of entitlement that many of our children have today.

“Well, if it’s not about the pres-ents, what’s the big deal?” was probably the funniest comment I have heard the past few weeks from a first grade boy. After a few chuckles I came to realize that he was serious. He didn’t know what the big deal was if it wasn’t about getting stuff. So here is both the dilemma and the opportunity. The dilemma is that if we stop feeding the entitlement/commercialization notion of Christmas, what do we do? The opportunity is that when we have a Christmas Lite, we have the chance to make Christmas about something other than the presents. No, I do not mean that we should not get our children toys and

gifts at Christmas, we should. I would just like to suggest three ideas to empha-size besides getting things.

The first is giving. Kids often get lost at Christmas in the notion that it is all about what they get. Take the opportunity to create a tradition of giving. Angel trees, Toys for Tots, win-ter coat drives, etc. all provide wonderful opportunities for our children to experience the joy of giving, often to those less fortunate than they are. When a child is in the role of giving to help meet the needs of another, they develop a sense that even they can make a difference in someone’s life. This awareness of the needs of others and our own ability to make a difference can stay with a child for the rest of their life.

The second is family. What do you remember most about Christmas, was it the presents or the family traditions? It may just be me, but in this world of electronic stimulation, it seems that family traditions have fallen by the wayside. Make a tradition. Whether it is going to the Christmas Eve church ser-vice or having a family dinner

on Christmas Day or going to grandmas’ house, do something that your children will begin to look forward to each year. Traditions keep families together and emphasize the importance of be-ing a part of a bigger whole. This type of

heritage gives a child roots. It gives them a sense of belonging and a healthy jumping off point to go out into the world.

Thirdly, celebrate the birth of Christ. Yes I know the time of Christmas has many different roots, the winter solstice, pa-gan holidays, etc. but we should know that it as our time to cele-brate the birth of the King. With Christmas being one of the first longstanding memories that children encode, make sure that you share the Truth. Tell the Christmas story, have a nativity scene, or just go to church. As I was told by a kindergartener last week, “the best present in the world was the one God gave me…baby Jesus”.

It’s possible that having a Christmas Lite might just be what your family needs this year. Merry Christmas!

Contact Keith [email protected]

“Christmas Lite” might be just what we need

Keith McCurdy

I love Christmas day. I love watching my kids get excited over the magic of it all - Santa, flying reindeer and of course the presents. I remember being so excited on Christmas Eve that I couldn’t sit still. It is so wonderful to watch in my own children. But my favorite part of the season is the time before Christmas - the planning, the antici-pation, the waiting - the celebrating of something to come. I recognize that now as the season of Advent making a home in my heart - the prepa-ration for something so glorious and so much greater than me that I am just happy that I can be a part of the celebration.

Christmas is so alive and vivid, our senses are heightened by the sights, sounds, smells and feelings - all those past Christmases create such a strong bank of memories in our minds. I love

helping to create that for my own family through our various Christmas traditions. I know I can’t force my children to grasp with their hearts the true meaning of Christmas (although they have done pretty well so far) but I can help inspire that spirit through the joyous ways we celebrate.

A few years ago, at Christmas, my mother ex-plained to me what the word Grace meant to her. She became really quiet and said, “God was born into the world for us.” I keep thinking about those words and what they mean… “Unto YOU a Child is born.”

I hope we all take time to get quiet and reflect on this most precious gift of love.

Merry Christmas to all of you!This is our traditional Christmas dinner, some-

thing very different and so much fun…Beef Fondue!I either buy beef sirloin or beef tenderloin for the meat. I use any type of vegetable oil in the fondue pot, what-ever I have on hand. Then you just heat it up, cook your meat and dip! The sauces below are fabulous but get creative - I love try-ing out new sauces!

Horseradish Cream Sauce 1 cup sour cream3 tablespoon prepared horseradish2 teaspoons lemon juice2 scallions, finely chopped1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire

saucesalt and pepper to taste Herb Butter Dipping Sauce1 cup butter or margarine, melted2 tablespoons lemon juice1/4 teaspoon fines herbs blendDash hot pepper sauce such as Tabasco

Sour Cream Mustard Sauce1/2 pint sour cream1/2 mayonnaise1/4 cup prepared mustard1 tablespoon finely chopped onionDash of Hot Pepper Sauce,

such as Tabasco

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce: 1/2 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons Creole mus-tard or other hot whole-grain mustard Pinch saltPinch cayenne, or to taste

I also buy a couple of red sauces such as jalapeno ketchup, BBQ sauce, and of course regular ketchup for the kids!

The Recipe of the Week from The Happy ChefBy Leigh Sackett

Beef Fondue


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Anita Wilson, President of the Market Building Tenants Association, and co-owner of Burger in the Square with her husband Louis, pleaded with Council Monday to tell them specifically how their businesses would factor into the extensive renovations of the Market Building. Wilson said she wanted “straight an-swers” on whether the City even wanted them to remain in the Market building. Wil-son contended that they have had “no input” in the selected architectural firm’s redesign.

“There is no future for most of us … shutdown decisions will be made in days, not months,” she said, “[knowing our future] is not a lot to ask … we need to make plans now so we don’t drown.”

Councilwoman Anita Price asked City Manager Darlene Burcham if she had a time-frame for the tenants.

Burcham said, “unfortu-nately we do not.”

Burcham said it would be no earlier than March 2009, and then the tenants would receive at least 60 days no-tice. Following the meeting, Burcham said she offered the tenants assistance in locating to other temporary locations during renovations. She did not say who would pay for relocation or necessary con-

struction. Price then asked about the

tenants’ concerns regarding where the trash is stored. Wilson said that the trash is stored indoors at the corner of the Market building and that she had tried unsuccess-fully to procure trash com-pactors from the City.

Glenna Johannessen, own-er of “Seeds Of Light”, located on the outside of the Market building, spoke after Wilson. Johannessen commented on the effect the closure of the Market building had on her business. Johannessen said before the September 19th closure her sales were up 7.5% for the year, but during the two weeks the building was closed sales were down 14%.

Other downtown busi-nesses expressed how the two-week Market closure had negatively impacted their business through writ-ten statements.

While there were no defin-itive solutions offered, Wil-son said she believed they [Council members] listened to her, and she preferred ne-gotiation and communica-tion over legal action.


Anita Wilson addresses City Council as Darlene Burcham looks on.


Market tenants plea for their future

sPoRts 12/19/08 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |

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Robert Gray announced that he will be step-ping down as Varsity Head Coach of the Patrick Henry High School football team. Mr. Gray will continue in his role as a health and physical edu-cation teacher at Patrick Henry.

“I basically just felt that the time has come for a change,” Gray said. “I’m still a big supporter of Patrick Henry. I think that we’ve done a lot of positive things as a program over the past few years. I think we’ve laid a good foundation there, and that there are a lot of good things in place. I just thought it was time to step aside and give someone else a shot.”

Throughout his four-year tenure as head coach, Gray has been a strong supporter of high academic standards for all student-athletes. He assisted more than 20 athletes in gaining admis-sion to colleges around the country. He has been a leader in implementing the new Roanoke City Public Schools athletic eligibility standards.

“We are sincerely grateful for Bob’s good work,” said Patrick Henry Principal Connie Ratcliffe. “Bob insists that his players truly be student-athletes.”

"Many of Coach Gray's former players will come back to see him during their college breaks to thank him for helping them with college ad-missions," said Athletic Director Patricia Sheedy. "

Patrick Henry’s record over the past four sea-sons was 10 wins, 30 losses.

Deputy Superintendent Curt Baker indicated that the school division will immediately com-mence its search for a new varsity head football coach. “We have a rigorous selection process in place. We expect to be able to name our new coach by the end of February.

PH Coach resigns

Former Patrick Henry Coach Bob Gray

By Matt [email protected]

The Patrick Henry Lady Patriots (6-1) have run their winning streak to six games with convincing double-digit victories over Cave Spring, Hidden Valley, and Martinsville.

“I think the biggest thing in the last couple games has been our defense,” head basketball coach Toree Dunleavy said. “We’ve been able to get a lot of steals, which have led to some easy baskets.”

The team has seen production come from some surprising places. Kate Norbo, who has earned a soccer scholarship to the University of Virginia and did not play on the team last season, led the Lady Patriots with 21 points in an 80-29 victory over Martinsville on Tuesday night.

Dunleavy also praised forward Latoya Flint for her efforts. “She does all the little stuff that doesn’t necessarily show up on the stat sheet. Whatever we’re in need of, whether it be a key rebound or an assist, she does it. She’s really been an unsung hero so far.”

The Lady Patriots (6-1) will look to con-tinue their recent success when they travel to Albemarle for a tournament on December 27 to face Waynesboro High School.

“We’re starting to round into form,” Dun-leavy said. “We’re getting into better shape, which has helped our shooting and our de-fense. Basically, we’re just learning to play to-gether.”

Lady Patriots Rolling


Three years ago, Ron Hubbard and Troy Manns made a com-mitment to build a competitive girls’ basketball program at Wil-liam Fleming High School. After a winning season in year two, the Lady Colonels hope to continue their progress and contend for a Western Valley District Champi-onship.

So far, so good.Hubbard, in his first season

after replacing his good friend Manns, has the Lady Colonels off to an unblemished start through four games, with victories over Northside, Salem, Magna Vista

and Pulaski.“We have a veteran team,” Hub-

bard said of a roster that con-tains two seniors and six juniors. “These girls have been through a lot together, and have been play-ing with each other for a while now.”

Offensively, the Lady Colonels possess a balanced attack, led by their two junior guards, leading scorer Tashiana Pack and point guard Tiasia McGeorge. “She is the one that makes everything go,” Hubbard said of McGeorge. “She’s our floor general out there.”

The team doesn’t want to be-

come too dependent on their guards, however.

“We’ve really focused on get-ting the ball inside whenever we can,” Hubbard said. “In the past we may have relied a little too much on our guard play, but we’re doing a better job of being more balanced.”

In the frontcourt, senior for-ward Siopa Johnson leads the team in blocks and rebounds thus far. “She is a definite force down low, and she does a lot of things for us,” Hubbard said.

Through the first few games of the season, the team has modeled

an intensity that Hubbard de-mands. “We want our kids to be active, and to play hard,” he said. “Our district is really tough, but we’ll be all right if we stay humble and keep working hard. If we play like we’ve been practicing, we’ll be fine.”

The Lady Colonels head to Hidden Valley High School for the Titans Invitational this week-end for a contest against Virginia Episcopal High School on Friday, and then face the Titans on Sat-urday.

Colonels Off to Fast Start


Photo by Bill Turner

Gimme the rock: Cave Spring’s Ellen Vest gets in position for a rebound Monday night against a Patrick Henry player during a 52-32 loss to the Patriots. PH went to 5-1 on the season with the win; Cave Spring fell to 3-2.

Warriors win: the Faith Christian School Warriors de-feated United Christian 55-38 in girls basketball last Friday to improve to 4-2. Faith Christian is a defending small independent school champion in Virginia.

Faith Christian #20 Monica Pol-lard (Above) hits a free throw Friday nightWarriors Faith Gardner (Left) drives to the basket for a score Friday night

(Bill Turner photos)

sPoRts | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 12/19/08

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Knights win wrestling tourney: on a rival’s home turf – or in their gym at least – Cave Spring traveled to Hidden Valley last weekend and took home the team trophy in the Titan Toughman wrestling championships. Northside lost all four final round matches to the Knights, falling in to second place. Blacksburg was third after winning the Toughman title last fall. Other local school finishes: William Byrd (5th), Salem (6th), Hidden Valley (7th), Patrick Henry (12th), North Cross (14th) and Roanoke Catholic (17th).Ryan Mecca clinched the championship for Cave Spring with a win over Northside’s Brady Craft at 152lb. Other local individual winners included Andrew Nicely/William Byrd (112lb); Zakk Moorman/Byrd (119); RJ Hall/Salem (189); Cray Webb/Cave Spring (215 and Daniel Teal/Hidden Valley (275).

Photos by Bill Turner

Bloody, but unbowed: Ryan Mecca (Above) wins 152-lb match to capture Titan

Toughman win for the Cave Spring Knights.

Kenny Saunders, Jr. still marvels at the notion that he is a PGA level A-1 golf pro-fessional living and working - if you can call it working - at the Nick Faldo designed Ocean Dunes Golf Club in Phan Thiet, Vietnam. Opened in 1994, the course has garnered worldwide ac-claim for its windswept sand dunes. The notorious par-3 9th hole by the sea has been hailed by GOLF (USA) Mag-azine as one of the best 500 holes in the world. Faldo is an Englishman and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

At age 42 Saunders got the push he needed from his then future wife, Millie, quit-ting his job as a jewelry sales-man five years ago to become a cart caddy at $6 an hour, at the Nashville Golf and Ath-letic Club.

Now as head golf pro and director of Ocean Dunes, Kenny and Millie live in a rent-free villa on the coast of the South China Sea. They have a housekeeper and their own personal driver, who has become part of the family. Everything is done for them, even their laundry - they pay for absolutely nothing.

Saunders was pro and op-erator at Dalet Palace - the oldest golf course in Asia, (built in the 1920’s as the pri-vate domain of Emperor Bao Dai, Vietnam’s last emperor) before moving to Ocean Dunes.

It was a hard road that Saunders traveled to land his plum assignment in Viet-nam. For starters, the tests to attain a PGA Class A level takes three to five years to complete. Flying back last summer from Vietnam, he

took his final test while suf-fering from extreme jet lag, but passed anyway.

Parents Ken Sr. and Ro-sanne Saunders of Roanoke made their first trip to Viet-nam to see their son during the Thanksgiving holidays. They are still recovering from the 30-hour flight. Their ex-periences were both amus-ing and eye opening. Ken had young girls come up to him and rub his ample tum-my, smiling and calling him “Buddha.” Rosanne on the other hand had her tummy churn with some of the local food she ate.

Ken. Sr. had his moment on the Ocean Dunes course when he was tapped to re-place a no-show for an Inter-national Golf Tournament.

The only U.S. participant, he played with golfers from France, Korea, New Zealand, and Australia. “The young Vietnamese girl caddies do everything for you,” recalled Saunders. “They ride on the back of the golf carts, give advice, spot and clean your golf ball, and even retrieve it from the hole for you.”

Kenny Jr. reminisced via a memo from Vietnam - it was just yesterday when he and his father played at Country-side Golf Club, then named Arrow Wood Country Club. “I was 5 years old when Dad had to saw off my clubs and black tape the handle for grips because they were too tall.”

Golf teaches many of life’s lessons and cultivates friend-

ships that last a lifetime says Kenny Jr. “You can go to a golf course by yourself, pair up with another threesome and when the day is done you will have three new friends.” Valley Character, a Roanoke organization that promotes character-building programs for youth, has used clips with golf professional Chip Sul-livan, head PGA golf pro at Ashley Plantation in radio promotions. To that end, Kenny approached a Viet-namese school and asked if any of the students would like to learn how to play golf. Now he has 20 school-age kids in his program. Ken Sr. has been invited to Saigon to share his experiences, in teaching school children how to play golf. A program similar to “First Tee” is now in the works.

Saunders says the tourist-fueled golf business in Viet-nam is going strong in spite of the economic downturn in the U.S. The number of golf-ers has mushroomed from only 400 ten years ago to over 7,500 today. “Tourism is booming here. [Local] busi-ness people are [also] becom-ing affluent. In Vietnam, you join a golf club as expensive as you can afford. This shows everyone that you have made it.”

Kenny and Millie will be back in the States as a guest of Nick Faldo for the Indianap-olis 500 in June 2009. They will also visit his parents, who live off the 10th fairway at Countryside Golf Course in Northwest Roanoke. It’s a sure bet that father and son will play a round or two on the course where Kenny Jr. at age five took his first swing at a golf ball - with Dad’s sawed-off golf club.

Roanoke native living large in Vietnam as head golf pro

Roseanne, Kenny and Ken Saunders Sr. on the Ocean Dunes course. (Top) Something you don’t see every day: cattle block a road to the golf course.


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It’s Advent season. We talk a lot about waiting dur-ing the season of Advent.

We do our very best—at least within the walls of the church on Sundays—to fend off the culture’s Christmas rush and participate in the season of ex-pectation. But what, we might ask, is the character of our waiting?

Too often, the Christmas upon which we wait is entirely backward-looking. It is a pining for what we perceive to have been a simpler, more agreeable time. Sometimes we hearken to images from our childhood. For me, it’s the film “A Christ-mas Story” about little Ralphie Parker who wants nothing for Christmas but a Red Rider BB gun. For my parents, it’s Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” about George Bailey and the good people of Bedford Falls.

We also, it’s true, set our ex-pectation on the stable, the star, and the shepherds in Bethle-hem. But these, too, are usu-ally imagined in the manner of Precious Moments ceramic figurines, gathered together doe-eyed in a table top Nativ-ity scene. Is that what Advent intends?

I am a runner. In high school, despite my spindly build, I was a sprinter, serving as the first leg of the 800 meter relay. With clarity, I remember those few seconds crouched in the start-ing blocks, waiting for the relay to begin.

The year of our best relay team I was the youngest and slowest of the four on our team. As I approached the blocks, I would scan the track and take in my fellow team members. Immediately in front of me was Zach Branch, beyond Zach was Bradley Welchel, and finally there was Chad Register—the anchor leg—who could release a burst of speed on which I hung a fair amount of hope. I would look at these three and

take a deep breath, acknowl-edging that my near future was tied to theirs. And then I’d set my feet in the blocks.

The next few seconds were some of the fullest I’ve expe-rienced. Before it ever fired, I could hear the crack of the starting pistol. I could smell its acrid smoke. Energy pulsated through me in those moments, my legs wanting to burst out of the blocks toward their desti-nation. In my mind I could see myself bending into the curve of the track. I could feel the sure and practiced contact as I passed the baton to Zach. With clarity, I could see Chad crossing the finish line, having anchored us all and winning the race. I imagined what was to come with such vividness that it was almost as real to me in the blocks as when I actu-ally ran the track. In the small and insignificant event of a high school track meet, I lived into the future with all that I was. It truly was expectant waiting.

Why don’t I wait this way upon things of real import? Why don’t any of us? Why don’t we expect an explosive, transformative, potent and pul-sating future—one in which we play a part—instead of pining for what was and what may never have been?

When our Advent waiting is merely a pining, then nothing changes, either within ourselves or in the world round about us. Advent is spent nostalgically, and when Christmas comes, for two days (if we’re lucky) we greet one another with an unaccustomed courtesy. But then we slip back into the ca-dences of our lives. The tinsel and ornaments are put away, and we remain the same. Like a stiff mug of eggnog, Christmas becomes a palliative to get us through what is otherwise a bleak and cold time of year. It numbs us.

But for the runner in the

blocks, numbness is deadly. He needs to feel every nerve end-ing and experience the pulsat-ing energy that readies him for the sound of the gun. He needs to dwell not on some past race but envision the coming one, hoping that he will be trans-formed by the experience. So it is with Advent. We are called to wait expectantly like the runner in the blocks, to imag-ine that we will be transformed when Christ arrives among us. We’re called to see ourselves bending into the track, carry-ing forward the baton of God’s vision, sometimes passing it on to others and other times tak-ing it into our hands, but always knowing that there are those who run this race with us.

We’re barely a week away. Can you smell the stable stall? Can you hear the cry of the anxious mother about to give

birth, the sounds of the skit-tish animals gathered round? Can you anticipate what the unknowing shepherds will soon see erupt in the night sky? Can you imagine what it will mean for the God who so loves the world to be born into it—and to come again at the Second Advent?

He is coming. Feel it in your muscles and your bones as we wait expectantly, not pining for a porcelain figurine of a God, but readied to fire out of the blocks and become the agents of a mighty and blessed vision for the world.

St. John’s is in downtown Roa-noke at the corner of Jefferson Street and Elm Avenue. Sunday services are at 7:45 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., and 5:00 p.m. www.stjohnsroanoke.org.

PReaCheR’s CoRneRAdvent Waiting

By Reverend Barkley Thompson

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Santa’s on his way to theRoanoke Public LibrariesSanta’s elves have just sent us a message that Santa, along with his wife, Mrs. Clause, will be visiting Roanoke PublicLibraries in December.Santa and Mrs. Clause will be reading, providing refreshments and having their photos taken with anyone visiting them at Roa-noke Libraries.Phone 853-2955 for more infor-mation.Please refer to schedule below for locations and times:Raleigh Court Library, Fri-day, Dec 19, 10 a.m. - noon;Roanoke Main Library, Saturday, Dec. 20, 10 a.m. - noon;Williamson Road Library, Monday, Dec. 22, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

> Dec. 19Dickens of a Christmas:WACHOVIA PLAZA

6:30 p.m. – SPCA’s Pet Costume ContestCAMPBELL AVENUE7:30 p.m. – Pepsi’s Outdoor Holiday Movie – “A Christmas Story”CAMPBELL AVE. & MARKET6-10 p.m. – Strolling St. Nicholas6-10 p.m. – Carriage Rides6-10 p.m. – Street Actors (The-atre students fromWilliam Fleming High School)6-10 p.m. – Pony Rides & Holiday Photos7-9 p.m. – Mark Fuller, Magician7-9 p.m. – Photos with Santa7-10 p.m. – David Bear Stuart, Juggler7-10 p.m. – Sally Edelman, Face PainterWALL STREET7:00 p.m. – Quest Academy of MusicCAMPBELL AVENUE6-10 p.m. – Living Nativity Scene – Penn Forest Christian ChurchSANTA’S WORKSHOP6-8 p.m. – Taubman Museum of

ArtKIRK AVENUESuntrust’s Kids ZoneGames, Activities & More

> Dec. 20Christmas at Hillbilly Hide-a-wayCost - $69 per person includes: Roundtrip motorcoach trans-portation, visit to Church of the Talking Mural and refreshments there, a visit to Madison Dry Goods, an all inclusive Family Style Meal at Hillbilly Hide-a-way, a three hour music show and a tour host. Where - Passengers can board the bus at the Bonsack Walmart, Route 460, Troutville; at Hunting Hills Lowes, Route 220, Roanoke; and at Food Lion, Rocky Mount, VA.For more- call (540) 366-2888.

> Dec. 21A Big Band ChristmasChristmas as heard in New York

City’s famous Rainbow RoomWhen - 4 p.m. & 7:30 p..m.Where - Covenant Presbyte-rian Church, 1831 Deyerle Road, Roanoke. Child care provided

> Jan. 24KIVA One Year AnniversaryThis was the place of our first meeting. We would love to have you stop by for a piece of cake. We are asking our members, and the public, to bring an item for the Southwest Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank, instead of birthday gifts.When - 2 - 4p.m.Where - Mill Mountain Discov-ery CenterFor more - www.kidsadventur-ing.org

Have an item for the cal-endar? email it to [email protected]

Community CalendaR

Just two months ago Congress passed the Financial Stabi-lization Package which was designed to stabilize the growing financial crisis currently facing our country. This legislation, which I voted against, created the Troubled Asset Relief Pro-gram, known as TARP, and gave the U.S. Treasury Depart-ment broad authority to distribute $700 billion of the tax-payers’ hard earned money with hardly any oversight and no accountability for the irresponsible behavior of the financial institutions that led to this very situation. This $700 billion price tag translates into a cost of nearly $8,000 for every family of four in the U.S.

While I disagree with the approach the Fi-nancial Stabilization Package takes and believe it is not the solution to our long term financial problems or our short term credit liquidity crisis, it has been signed into law and so I believe that Congress must ensure proper over-sight of this extremely expensive program.

Earlier this month the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on TARP detailing a complete lack of oversight of this program. The report concluded that the TARP funds were being handed out without adequate con-trols. This is not surprising considering the Treasury De-partment has already distributed – or made commitments to distribute – some $335 billion to a wide range of U.S. fi-nancial institutions. That means nearly half of the funds in the program were handed out before accountability measures were even enacted. This funding has been given to various financial institutions but not a single Chief Executive Officer

(CEO) from any of the TARP participants has been called to testify before the House Financial Services Committee re-garding their need for or use of the hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ dollars they have received. In fact, the application to receive funding from TARP is only two pages long and doesn’t even ask the purpose of the loan. This is in compari-son to the eight page application package for a home loan and the eleven page application package to qualify for a student loan from the federal government.

I am encouraged that Congressional hear-ings are now being held to examine the root of our economic problems and to examine the Treasury Department’s execution of their new

authority, including Assistant Treasury Secretary Neel Kash-kari’s management of the program. Additionally, a Congres-sionally appointed oversight panel has been formed to ensure transparency and accountability of the TARP funds.

Our economy faces historic and unprecedented challenges. Nothing is more important to me than ensuring the future growth of our economy and job creation and we can all agree that Congress has a responsibility to act to ensure that credit, the lifeline of our economy, remains available to individuals, families, students, and small businesses all across this coun-try. However, Congress also has a responsibility to ensure that the taxpayers are protected by ensuring proper oversight and transparency of any funds distributed from the Troubled Asset Relief Program

Ensuring Oversight of the Taxpayers’ Money

[Rep. Bob Goodlatte]

valley Business | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 12/19/08 TheRoanokeStar.com

Clay Goodman celebrated his 54th birthday on Tuesday in a big way: the former Vin-ton Town Manager was in-troduced as the new County Administrator for Roanoke County. The Virginia Tech undergraduate, who earned a masters in public administra-tion at West Virginia, will as-sume that position within the next 90 days, after wrapping up his current post as Ad-ministrator in Montgomery County. Goodman has held that post since 2003 and was Town Manager in Vinton for ten years before that.

At the Board of Supervi-sors meeting on Tuesday the words “integrity” and “hones-ty” were thrown around a lot, with board members heaping praise on Goodman, also a former manager in Buena Vis-ta, Georgia and West Virginia. He succeeds John Chambliss, the interim County Admin-istrator since Elmer Hodge retired last summer. It’s also a homecoming for Goodman and his wife Connie, who put two children through William Byrd High School.

Roanoke County employed a search firm that narrowed the field of finalists down to

ten before the Board got in-volved. “You certainly rose to the top dur-ing the process,” chairman Rich-ard Flora told Goodman when the new hire, slated to make $152,000 a year, was introduced on Tuesday. Catawba super-visor Joe Butch Church called Goodman “the best [from] a good group of candidates.”

With the county facing low-er tax revenues in a shrinking economy the issue of budget cuts within the local govern-ment and school systems are all but certain to land on Goodman’s desk. “Roanoke County will be in very good hands,” said Windsor Hills su-pervisor Joseph McNamara, adding on a cautionary note that “we certainly have a lot of work ahead of us.”

For his part Goodman pledged to work with the Board “in any way possible,” and said he preferred to look on the bright side when it comes to budget issues in

tough economic times: “instead of the gloom and doom you can look for opportunities to build things … I’d rather build bridges than tear them down.”

Assessments up again: the Roanoke Val-ley’s penchant

to avoid the extreme highs and lows of the real estate market seen elsewhere means proper-ty assessments are going up – again. Real estate valuation di-rector Billy Driver pegged the increase in Roanoke County at about 2.5%. The Board of Supervisors can adjust the tax rate so that property owners don’t see an effective increase in the coming year. Supervi-sor Butch Church said he’s getting plenty of calls: “a lot of citizens are surprised to see an increase [in real estate value] of any kind.” Property owners can appeal their assessments to the county through January 27.

from VT News Service

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"There are a number of sig-nificant misconceptions about the economic crisis," said George Morgan, the SunTrust Professor of Finance in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. These include that deregulation was the cause; that the financial system bailout rescues only financial businesses; and that bankrupt-cy is necessarily a bad strategy for the auto industry.

"The most important mis-conception -- repeated by the press over and over -- is that people believe that deregula-tion of the financial services industry was a cause of the problems when just the op-posite is true," said Morgan. "The deregulation that allowed holding companies to own both commercial and invest-ment banks has allowed the more stable banks to rescue the volatile investment banks."

Without the deregulation, the crisis would have been much worse, he said.

"The financial rescue pack-age was necessary to respond to what was a panic in finan-cial markets that threatened not just financial businesses but all businesses from ports to factories to fast food to tele-phone companies. The finan-cial sector is the heart of the economic corpus in the Unit-ed States, and we could not al-low a "heart attack" to totally debilitate the working body of the economic system."

On the other hand, "Wheth-er the auto manufacturers constitute the same threat is a legitimate subject for debate," said Morgan. "There seems to me to be a misunderstanding of what it means for the com-pany to 'fail.' So called pre-packaged bankruptcy is the most likely outcome, and this does not mean that the com-panies shutter their doors and disappear. Just the opposite, bankruptcy would allow them to continue operating and im-plement a new plan of action,"

Morgan said. "Legally, such a measure is

apparently necessary in order to change labor agreements and debt contracts," he said.

"A government intervention could also help in abrogating past agreements and restruc-turing the business. But one has to ask the question wheth-er the government can run the auto industry any better than the heads of Toyota, GM, or others, who are all facing 30 to 50 percent declines in sales of their product," Morgan said.

"Given the political pres-sure and demands placed on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to expand lending to the less credit worthy - in other words, subprime borrowers, and to increase homeownership pro-portions to records of over 69 percent, we should think care-fully about politicians next imposing requirements on, or even running, the auto indus-try."

Financial system rescue package necessary; but think twice about politicians running auto industry

The Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of Roanoke Valley has announced the benefac-tors of its recent benefit dinner/dance held at the Salem Civic Center. The club has presented checks to the following charitable organizations: Virginia Amateur Sports $3,000; Roanoke Speech and Hearing Center $2,000; and Project Lifesaver $2,000.

Virginia Amateur Sports of Roanoke develops and promotes amateur athletics throughout the Commonwealth by stressing the benefits of physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle. The various events sponsored by VAS in Virginia include the Coventry Commonwealth Games. Get Healthy Virginia is also a current activity of VAS.

The Roanoke Speech and Hearing Center provides diagnosis and speech, language and hearing therapy to indigent children in the Roanoke Valley. Project Lifesaver is an under-funded program of the Roanoke County Police Department that provides wrist locator bea-cons to handicapped individuals who are prone to wandering. Individuals with beacons can be located in a matter of minutes, rather than hours or days. The funds are specifically identi-fied to provide additional beacons and location electronics.

The Rotary Club of Roanoke Valley meets each Tuesday at 7 AM at the Hidden Valley Ro-tary Club. Tarek Moneir is president of the Roanoke Valley club.

Rotary Club of Roanoke Valley Donates to Three Charities

Fans of Grace’s Place in Grandin Village that live closer to Southwest Roanoke County now have another option when they need a pizza-pasta-sandwich fix: the new Grace’s Place takeout location at 4321 Brambleton Avenue. The new Grace’s Place, opened about two months ago, also delivers with a four-mile radius of the Brambleton Avenue store.

Grace’s Place in Grandin Village opened about five years ago said Ruben Liendo, a member of the family that owns both restaurants. “We’ve been wanting to do it for a while,” said Liendo of the new location. Things have been a bit slow at both venues but Liendo chalks that up to the economy: “we have to stay positive – things will change.”

Southwest County residents can order on line at gracespizzeria.com or can call 904-5424. Be-sides large specialty pizzas, Grace’s makes calzones, several types of sandwiches, pasta dishes and Italian appetizers.

Grace’s Place opens second location

The BBB Serving western Virginia has been receiving telephone calls from local consum-ers who have received a check for $149 from the U.S. District Court Settlement Adminis-trator in Philadelphia, PA as part of a settle-ment agreement with Wachovia Bank.

Consumers are concerned about the legiti-macy of these checks and are also confused about why they are included in the Wachovia settlement.

According to BBB President & CEO, Julie Wheeler, “these checks are legitimate and consumers who receive them can safely de-

posit the check in their banking account or cash the check at a Wachovia branch.”

Checks were mailed to 740,000 consum-ers on December 11, 2008 as part of the $150 million dollar settlement agreement.

The settlement arose from banking ar-rangements that Wachovia had with tele-marketers to process payments for product orders made by telephone. Consumers who receive settlement checks ordered products or services from one of these telemarket-ing firms and paid by electronically created checks over the telephone.

U.S. District Court settlement checks legitimate

Bonsack Elementary School has received $2500 from the Food Lion Charitable Foundation. Bonsack Elementary School will use the gift to support math literacy programs. Established in 2001, the Food Lion Charitable Foundation provides financial support for programs and organizations dedicated to improving the communities in which Food Lion operates. The Foundation places an emphasis on the support of primary and secondary education, feeding the hungry, and organizations that enhance the quality of life in Food Lion’s local communities.

Bonsack Elementary Middle School receives gift from Food Lion

Send your articles, story ideas and pictures to:

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aRts & CultuReTheRoanokeStar.com 12/19/08 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |

Wish for you... A Holiday Season Filled With

The Residents and Staff of

4920 Woodmar Dr., SW • Roanoke, VA 24018www.parkoakgrove.com • [email protected]

Artistic Director Miriam Frazier says Gamut’s production of “Reckless,” on stage at Jefferson Center’s recital hall this weekend (Dec. 18th through 20th) will strike a chord with those used to a fre-netic pace at holiday time. The play was also staged twice last week. Curtain time this weekend is 8pm on Friday-Saturday and 7:30pm on Thursday, for the 90-minute play written by Craig Lucas.

Beer, wine, and mixed drinks will be served beginning a half hour before each performance, and during intermission. Frazier, a theater major now working at a law office, says patrons can sit at tables and enjoy a beverage while they watch Reckless, which is not quite a comedy but certainly has comic overtones, including several surreal scenes, like one where the “family,” as it is, appears on a game show under false pretenses to win money desperately needed.

As for the play, “it’s about the chaotic nature of life at times,” says Frazier, who also directs this production of Reckless, “and the strange order that can sometimes exist in the middle of chaos.” Christmas as it transpires over a number of years figures into the story. This is the Gamut’s second official production although the troupe (Gypsies and Misfits they call themselves; that’s where the name Gamut came from) has worked together in one form or another for several decades. All have “real” jobs but have been bitten by stage bug.

“If you have a dark sense of humor it’s extraor-

dinarily funny,” Frazier promises of Reckless. Tickets are $12 each; contact Miriam Frazier at 540-380-3168 or 540-224-8032 or by email to [email protected] for more information. Anoth-er one-act play called “Art” is already scheduled by Gamut for March 2009 at Jefferson Center. In that play (March 4-6, 11-13) three middle-aged people see their friendship threatened by a piece of abstract art one member of the trio purchases.

Mini-review: The recital hall at Jef-ferson Center, behind the Shaftman Performance Hall stage, is a nice, in-

timate space; the set for Reckless was spare but striking and the audience is almost on stage with the cast. Think the best of off-off Broadway. An almost full house on opening night last week was a testament to the interest in live theater here, on a less than grand scale.

Kris Laguzza is excellent in the lead role as Ra-chel/Mary etc., a woman trying to run away from her past while trying to regain a bit of normalcy at the same time. She’s slightly neurotic, but like-able, someone the audience can root for. There’s comedy, there’s tragedy and there’s reflection as well. The rest of the cast, including her husband Ross Laguzza (both are veterans of local produc-tions) is uniformly good. Well worth the time and money.

Kris Laguzza is Boffo in lead role.


Chaos - and Christmas - on stage at Jefferson Center this weekend

Some differences of opin-ion over what direction the education program should take helped lead to Pat Wilhelms’ departure at Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke. But now she’s back, just several blocks away with Roanoke Children’s Theatre, based at the new Taubman Museum of Art. Wil-helms and her small staff are now forming classes for the very young up to age 18, and will stage several plays during the year with students in those classes.

On stage now through De-cember 23rd is “Madeline’s Christmas,” based on the popu-lar French books in the Made-line series. Wilhelms auditioned for young actors, even before the student classes start formal-ly next month, and the cast in-cludes children from a number of local schools. Hidden Valley 9th grader Heidi Klockenbrink has the lead role in Madeline’s Christmas, which features set graphics lifted right from the pages of the classic books.

“Its all about these 12 little girls in a boarding school and their adventures,” says Wil-helms, with Madeline the “cu-rious headstrong, imaginative,” leader of that group. This par-ticular adaptation at the Taub-man “embodies what the holi-day season is all about – love, family and a little bit of magic.” School matinees are tied in to SOL’s; plays are one hour long

to make it more acceptable to teachers and principals.

Wilhelms will also call on pro-fessional actors and believes that having them work with young students is beneficial. That’s a new wrinkle that Wilhelms, the artistic director, has introduced with Roanoke Children’s The-atre. Several professional actors are coming in from New York City and elsewhere to appear in the play with her students, who will learn meaty roles in many cases. “The [young] people in these plays will learn from pro-fessionals at the same time they are performing and rehearsing.”

The upstate New York native was a theater major in college who later became involved with children’s theater in Buf-falo. “It has been a part of me,” said Wilhelms, who sees plenty of good coming from kids that have to learn lines, know where to stand and act in front of an audience. “They get the experi-ence of working with a group of people and the pride that comes out of that - the accom-plishment [of] working hard as a team.”

Classes for those aged 5-18 start in January. The youth workshops and stage produc-tions will be held in the muse-um’s “black box” space, which has been fitted with a set of risers and seats. “Year round we will have something for ev-ery age group,” said Wilhelms. Next up on stage is Charlotte’s

Web (March 12-22), with an-other play called Honk! in late May, based on the ugly duck-ling tale.

Despite the presence of sev-eral other organizations that provide youth classes for bud-ding actors, Wilhelms calls RCT a welcome “addition” to our region. “There are in the valley a number of talented people and I think that’s why we realized there was a need for Roanoke Children’s Theatre, to [provide] more opportunities for children.”

Go to roanokechildrensthe-atre.org for more information on youth classes and produc-tions like Madeline’s Christmas, on stage now at the Taubman

Museum of Art through De-cember 23rd.


Heidi Klockenbrink has the lead role in “Madeline’s Christmas.”


Roanoke Children’s Theatre takes root at Taubman Museum

Downtown Roanoke is experiencing a renais-sance in the visual arts. This week, we contin-ue to observe the excitement of the revitalized downtown art scene by exploring Signature 9 Gallery. The atmosphere of Signature 9 is warm, calm, and inviting. West Coast galleries have in-fluenced the sophisticated, understated interior design. The work of 27 regional artists is repre-sented in this flexible and beautifully lit gallery.

For those of us who appreciate a representa-tion of familiar places, whether near or far, the scenes by Winn Ballenger want to be with you over and over again. Viewing On 221 in Fall re-minds us of the natural beauty all around us as we follow familiar routes in our beautiful Valley. David Eakin, of Lynchburg, exhibits soft, real-istic impressions of the surrounding counties. An oil on paper, titled Heavens Late Morning, would calm the most hectic playroom or busy foyer; the perspective in this piece would make a narrow space feel more open. Nothing would enhance a room more than these interpretations of the peaceful nature that surrounds us.

If grass and trees are not your cup of color, the water scenes in watercolor by Allen Berkshire or the oil entitled Newport by Mark Shepheard will “float your boat.” An artist’s interpretation and depiction of a place you love creates fresh perspective, which can generate energy and “oomph” when placed in your home.

Landscapes by Vera Dickerson quietly lead us to observe the artist subtly changing the reality of the scene to the “feeling” of the scene. One of Dickerson’s bold contemporary landscapes over a sidepiece, a mantel, or as a focal point on a wall would uplift and update any décor.

Two generations of artists show in Signature 9 Gallery. Erin D’Alessandro creates reasonably priced small and delicate works of art for adorn-ment, which can be purchased for under $100—and some under $50! Her stepmother Sandi is showing large, bold paintings that would be a feature on any large wall. Nothing gives a room a lift like a large abstract painting.

Groupings also make a statement—think of replacing an ordinary decorative mirror over a chest or sideboard with a group of four colorful abstract acrylics by Gari Stephenson. Pop! The room comes alive!

Bonnie Neuhoff’s Afternoon Inspiration or Tea at Hotel Roanoke, acrylics with strong reds, would also be great additions over a chest or ta-ble—and are extremely reasonably priced.

The most unusual works in Signature 9 consist of Nancy Stark’s “trains,” which are painted on boards. These are delightfully colorful and fun for anyone who loves color—and, of course, any-one who loves trains. Norfolk Southern should have one in their boardroom!

Betty Calabria’s elegant pierced steel sculptures stand free and tall. Any garden or open room would be more interesting with one of these pieces. Our highest praise is to say that a room or a piece is timeless in both its composition and material; Calabria’s forms are truly “timeless.”

“Sculpture to wear” is an art form Peter Wre-den began during the local art renaissance of the 1960s, and he still sets a standard for sculp-ture and jewelry nationally. His “sculpture to wear”—reasonably priced rings, earrings, and necklaces—are perfect as gifts or for personal adornment.

Annie Trinkle, one of the region’s most sought-after jewelry makers, presents necklaces that would be the only addition one would need for an “outfit.” Particularly enchanting is a large bronze flower with beads and fabric. A casual necklace of nautical cork and beads in a neutral

color scheme would be smashing with sweaters and tweeds. After all, composing our attire is not unlike composing our home!

During the local art renaissance of the 1960s, it was popular to collect works of nationally known local illustrators Walter Biggs and Allen Palmer. Laura Palmer clearly has inherited the “artist gene” from her grandfather, Allen Palmer. She is not, however, an illustrator but rather a painter in every way. She loves the lushness of paint and smoothes and swirls it to create a feeling of mys-tery redolent of the beginning of time.

Another medium represented in the Signature 9 gallery is pottery. A turquoise and red cup cre-ated by Ben Carter looks fit to serve a beverage to a knight in medieval times. What a great, in-expensive gift for someone with a discerning eye for art, who loves his or her java!

Lyn Jordan’s handsome, decorative accessories would update a tabletop wonderfully. Her plates on stands might replace traditional reproduc-tion Chinese porcelain and update an area of our homes.

One of the area’s most popular photographers, Barry Wolfe, exhibits in this space. His colorful and bright photographs are well composed and appealing for almost any décor.

Signature 9 has something for every taste and puts Roanoke “on the map” in terms of gallery design. An exploration of the art displayed in Roanoke’s downtown galleries presents an ad-venture full of excitement and possibility as you discover which pieces please you and work with your décor.

The Market Gallery – 23 Salem AvenueSignature 9 Gallery – 301 South Jefferson StreetWilson Hughes Studios and Gallery – 117 West Campbell AvenuePamela Jean Gallery – 115 East Salem AvenueGallery 108 – 108 Market StreetFleda A. Ring Artworks – 7A East Church Av-enuePatton and Phillips Gallery – 110 West Camp-bell AvenueRoanoke Valley Printworks – 108 East Salem AvenueBetty Branch Sculpture Gallery – 123 Norfolk Av-enue

Designing with Art: A Downtown Renaissance Part II

By Carol [email protected]

Frank L. Moose Jeweler Inc.

Since 1928

Merry Christmas from

all of us!Special Holiday Hours!

Sat Dec 20th: 9:30 PM - 5:00 pmChristmas Eve:

9:00 PM - 3:30 pm(Closed Friday Dec 26th)

Engineers Blues by Nancy Stark.


Merry Christmas from Roanoke Valley Harley-Davidson!

Who knows what you might find under your tree this year!

1925 Peters Creek RoadRonaoke, VA 24017

540-562-5424

www.rvhd.comMonday - Friday 8 to 6

Saturday 8 to 5

Call The Country Store at 774-6875 4717 Starkey Rd., Roanoke

Let the Country Store Do Your Country Cookin’!

Open Christmas Day!

Delicious Baked Ham Dinner only $21.99

Includes green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, broccoli

casserole, biscuits, lemon chess pie, pumpkin pie, and homemade peach or

cherry cobblers.(choice of two vegetables and one dessert)

• Kensie

• Kensie Girl

• Naughty Monkey Shoes

• Miss Me Couture

• Scrapbook Collection

• Big Buddah Bags

• 180 ...What else do we need to say?

It’s all your body needs & it’s ONLY at “PINK”

Roll into our NEW Location!!4097 Electric Road (Near Tanglewood Mall) • 540 772 7462

(540) 344-9274 or (540) 342-3733 www.valleycadillacsaab.com

Valley Cadillac Saab2743 Franklin Road, S.W. • Roanoke

C A D I L L A C - S A A B - B M W

NEW 2008 Cadillac DTS Luxury III

Driver & Front Passenger Heated & Cooled Seats, Ultrasonic F/R Park Assist, Power Massaging Front Seats, 8-Speaker Bose Audio System, 6-disc Changer In Dash, Walnut Wood Trim, STOCK# 18083.MSRP ........................$48,860Valley Savings ..... -$4,530Rebates............. -$6,500RED TAG PRICE

$37,830

NEW 2008 Cadillac STS

V6 Luxury

Automatic, Heated Seats, 6-disc CD Changer with Bose 5.1 Surround Sound System, DVD

Navigation, Power Sunroof, Universal Home Remote, 1 Year Onstar, STOCK# 18066.

MSRP ........................$50,590Valley Savings ..... -$3,244Rebates............. -$6,500RED TAG PRICE

$40,846

NEW 2008 Cadillac SRX V6

V6 Luxury Collection, White Diamond Tricoat, Cashmere w/Cocoa Accents, 3.6L V6 VVT Engine, All Wheel Drive, Luxury Package, Premium Seating Package, Ultraview Sunroof, Rear Air Conditioning, 17” Wheels, STOCK# 18104.

MSRP ........................$46,030Valley Savings ..... -$3,110Rebates............. -$6,000RED TAG PRICE

$36,920

NEW 2008 Saab 9-3 2.0T

Sport Sedan, Automatic Transmission, 5-Speed, Cold Weather Package Includes; Heated Front Seats, High Pressure Headlamp Washers, 1 year Onstar Service Safe & Sound Plan, STOCK# 28032.

MSRP ........................$30,725Valley Savings ...... -$742Rebates............. -$5,250RED TAG PRICE

$24,733

‘ 0 8 C L E A R A N C E S A L EGreat Blowout Prices! up to $10,000 Savings!

All Cars are New, All Rebates Assigned to Dealer. All Vehicles Subject To Prior Sale. Tax, Tags, $179.00 Processing Fee Additional. Sale Ends 1/3/08.

One of the faces of music in the Valley:Professor Joseph Blaha conducts the Roanoke College Wind Ensemble in one of their regularly scheduled concerts last Thursday night in Olin Hall.

Photo by Hany Hosnywww.hanyhosnyphotography.com

the roanoke star-sentinel

Documents

transportation museum

downtown museum

roanoke valley ymca

roanoke star sentinel

duane howard

vmt tree

roanoke mayor david

under funded museum