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Jefferson College of Health Sciences recently held a reunion for alumni that have graduated from the downtown school with degrees in nursing or allied fields. A lot has changed recently for Jefferson College, including a shift towards four-year bach-elor’s degrees and away from two-year degrees, and a move to the Carilion Roanoke Com-munity Hospital building from its former home just down the block on Jefferson.

“The only thing left there is our practical nursing program,” said President N.L. Bishop, him-self another newcomer – he’s been in that position for about

six months. That program will soon move to another location across the street, and then Car-ilion, which operates the school, will decide what it wants to do with the former home of the college.

Carilion Community still operates a physical therapy in-patient wing and an acute care center at the former full service hospital location (all other de-partments have moved over to Carilion Roanoke Memorial), which means students at Jeffer-son College have more opportu-nities for hands on learning.

[Virginia Travel]

> CONTINUEDP3: Jefferson

The Perfect Fall Excursion

Photo by Kenneth L. Miller ©2009

The Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society will offer two round trip excursions by train between Roanoke and Danville (Nov. 6) and Roanoke and Bluefield (Nov. 7). These trips, using modern Amtrak locomotives

and coaches plus vintage railroad cars, depart from the former N&W passenger station in downtown Roanoke and will have a layover of 3 hours in Danville and 2 ½ hours in Bluefield to participate in local activities. Coach seats are available for either trip and can be purchased at the O. Winston Link Museum (540-982-5465) or Virginia Museum of Transportation (540-342-5670) during business hours. Both Coach and First Class seats may be ordered from the Roanoke Chapter NRHS (540-774-0611) evenings, or online at www.RoanokeNRHS.org.

Mother Named “Angel In Adoption”

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a mem-ber of the Congressional Coali-tion on Adoption, has named Zina Hardin of Roanoke to represent Virginia’s Sixth Dis-trict at the 12th annual “Angels in Adoption” banquet, which will be held in Washington, D.C. The banquet honors one nominee from each congres-sional district who is making a difference in the lives of chil-dren through adoption.

“Zina Hardin is a person that people rely on,” said Congress-man Goodlatte. “Some would even say she is a natural care-taker. Over the years her role as a caretaker has spanned from caring for sick relatives, tutoring struggling students, providing a safe house for bat-tered women, and as a foster mother for children in need. Today, Zina’s role as a caretaker continues as a mother of four children and particularly for her three children with special

> CONTINUEDP3: Angel

Roanoke City Announces New Chief of PoliceRoanoke City Manager Chris

Morrill announced on Wednes-day that Christopher C. Per-kins has been selected as Police Chief for the City of Roanoke. This announcement culminates a three-month national search and recruitment process. Per-kins will begin serving as Police Chief effective immediately.

Perkins, who has 17 years of progressive law enforcement experience, has been serving as Acting Police Chief since July 1, 2010 when Chief Joe Gaskins re-tired. Positions he has held since joining the Roanoke police force in 1992 include: Accreditation Manager, Major Crimes Squad Sergeant, Investigations Bureau Lieutenant, Investigations Bureau Captain, and Opera-tions Deputy Chief.

The Roanoke City Police veteran was the unanimous pick of two panels according to Vivian Sanchez-Jones, a member of the community board that reviewed the quali-fications for applicants for the position. Interviews took place over a three-month period and included the community, city workers and the input of Blacksburg police chief, Kimberly Crannis.

City Manager Chris Morrill met with neighborhood organizations, the NAACP, and the SCLC for input to the selection of a new police chief. Morrill said, “at the end we were able to narrow 68 applicants down to three.”

Members of the community selection panel included Mignon Chubb-Hale, Duke Curtis, Tammy Finley, Daniel Karnes, Brenda Hale, Laura Padgett, Vivian San-chez-Jones and Clarice Walker.

Other local candidates for the top spot included Capt. Greg Staples and Lt. Mac

Babb.Morrill praised Perkins say-

ing, “we are so fortunate to have someone who has come up through the ranks and not only knows the community but has taken every oppor-tunity he can to improve his skills.”

He attended the FBI Nation-al Academy in 2010; Scenario-Based Executive Level Train-ing in 2009; National Criminal Justice Command College in 2006; Political Leadership in 2006; Professional Executive Leadership School in 2004;

Supervisors in Community Po-licing in 1999; IACP First-Line

Supervision in 1999; and Leadership in Community Policing in 1998.

Perkins, 40, is married with one daugh-ter. He does not currently live in the city but said he plans to move as soon as possible.

Morrill said, “Chris Perkins already has a track record of working closely with our neighborhoods and businesses. He has been one of the major catalysts in the Po-lice Department’s efforts to use tech-nology and strate-

Photo by Valerie Garner

City Manager Chris Morrill welcomes Chistopher C. Perkins.

> CONTINUEDP2: Police Chief

City Shores Up Reserve Funds

Thursday morning Roanoke City council heard recommen-dations for changes to Roanoke’s reserve and debt policy. The Di-rector of Finance, Ann Shawver presented policy changes that would shore up lagging reserve funds. The policies are one mea-sure that a bond-rating agency uses when sniffing out a munici-pality’s financial health.

Among the recommendations was one item that has been an elusive goal for many years - fill-ing the Budget Stabilization Re-serve (BSR) to “full pond.”

Shawver recommended changing the policy’s measure of “full pond” from 8% of rev-enue to 10% of revenue. She also recommended referring to this fund as the Undesignated Fund Reserve. “This fund would only be used if the absolute worst happens and cash was needed immediately,” said Shawver.

The city’s financial advisory firm, Public Financial Manage-ment Group in Arlington, calls the BSR the “Economic Down-turn Reserve,” said Shawver. It would not be used unless reve-nues dropped at least 1 ½ percent below budget as the city moved through its fiscal year. The BSR or Economic Downturn Reserve would top out at 2% of revenue.

The balance in the BSR (Un-> CONTINUEDP2: Reserve

Jefferson College Celebrates Past, Looks To The Future

Photo by Gene Marrano

N.L. Bishop is the president of Jefferson College of Health Sciences.

BridgesBuilding

P5– Stephanie koehler looks backwards and forwards and finds herself burning less bridges and building more.

Kiss?Hershey

P6– Grandin Court Elementary finds a novel and inexpensive way to provide a new gym for its students.

ComebackCave Spring

P7– The Lady knights make a comeback for the ages in unseating arch-rival and unbeaten Hidden valley in volleyball.

HouseHaunted

P12– Author Joe Tennis will discuss “Haunts of The Blue Ridge” in his upcom-ing book signings at Ram’s Head and Barnes and Noble.

Stephanie Koehler

Page 2 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 10/15/10 - 10/21/10 NewsRoanoke.com

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> Police Chief From page 1

designated Fund Reserve) as of June 30, 2010 is $19,278,522 or 7.61 % of revenue.

To boost the reserve immediately, Shawver proposed combin-ing fiscal year 2010’s Undesignated Fund balance of $4.9 million to the reserve. This would bring the Undesignated Fund balance to a healthy 9.5% of revenue. “This will be a little more consistent with how other local governments and rating agencies view it,” said Shawver.

The self-insured reserve is antiquated. It ran at a deficit for FY2010 to the tune of $1 million. Measures will be taken to better fund the reserve to reflect actual claims exposure.

The debt policy was also on the table for change. The policy for capping the city’s debt at five percent of assessed value of real es-tate was recommended to be further restricted to four percent. It would include personal property values as well. The debt policy will remain at 10% of the General and School Fund expenditures. It ex-ceeded the policy for FY2010 at 10.2%.

In addition, Shawver recommended accelerating debt retirement from a 50% minimum reduction to a 60% reduction in the ten-year time frame.

Shawver stressed the importance of adhering to a municipality’s financial policy as a measure of a city’s commitment to financial soundness.

The three rating agencies are Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s. Moody’s noted earlier in the year that the city’s fund reserve

levels were below the national average.Adding $250,000 to $500,000 per year, will fully fund all reserves

within ten years with the possibility of adding year end surpluses for an added boost.

> Reserve From page 1

By valerie Garnerinfo@newsroanoke.com

Lowe’s on Rutgers Street has plenty of paper bags, with more on the way. They were a little difficult to find tucked in the greenhouse in front of the Christmas trees - even the clerks had a hard time finding them.

The clerk did reassure that the paper bags had heavy bot-toms and would stand on their own for filling. He also said they will withstand wet weather con-ditions - at least to some extent.

A five-pack of 30-gallon paper bags at Lowe’s sells for $1.88 a pack. With tax each bag amounts to less then the price of a first-class postage stamp.

A new Raonoke city policy means if residents use plastic bags it could cost $50.

Thursday Roanoke city coun-cil voted 5-0 to implement “pa-per bag only” leaf pickup this

fall. The morning briefing final-ized a decision that only 30-gal-lon biodegradable paper leaf bags or larger will be picked up by Solid Waste Management.

By turning to paper bags, the city will save $23,000. Rocky-dale Quarry charges a $38 per ton tipping fee for plastic bags.

There is no limit on the num-ber of paper bags that residents can set out for pickup. As added incentive to deter raking leaves to the curb or placing plastic bags in the city right-of-way the city will impose a fine. If plastic bags or loose leaves sit in front of a resident’s home for more than 72 hours they can expect to dole out $50 for the indiscre-tion.

Last year plastic bags were not allowed and though the fine was $100 if leaves were raked to

the curb, the city let residents slide while getting accustomed to the new code. Don’t count on that this year.

The bags will be collected on three different days. The dates are November 15 and 29 and December 13. On those days there will be no bulk or brush pickup. There will be no brush pickup during this whole pe-riod.

Residents will receive a mailer by October 22 with a paper bag reminder and dates for pickup. Even the Civic Center Marquee will post the phone number to call for leaf collection informa-tion – (853-2000).

Neighborhood organizations are asked to help their elderly and disabled neighbors with raking and bagging.

City Won’t Be Asking Paper Or Plastic For Leaf Removal

By valerie Garnerinfo@newsroanoke.com

Biodegradable Leaf Bags can be found at Lowe's and other local suppliers.

A conservative estimate has turned out to be the prudent option taken by Roanoke City Director of Finance, Ann Shawver. In April Shawver anticipated a future decline in the meals tax because “that is one of the taxes that is contracting.”

Overall August 2010 meals tax revenue fell 1% compared to August 2009.

With July revenue flat it brings the meals tax .5% less then this time a year ago.

The likely culprit in the downturn is con-tinued high unemployment and a stalled economy according to Shawver. The good news is that the $4.4 million goal for addi-

tional funding to Roanoke City Schools is still above target.

July was 4.3% above Shawver’s conserva-tive estimate. August came in at 2% above the estimate. So far the trend is $22,659 above water with a total for the two months coming in at $742,582 towards the $4.4 mil-lion goal.

Shawver made it clear that “while the meals tax is performing better than esti-mated, it is performing worse than the prior year.”

Roanoke City Market Building: Vendors who return to the renovated Market building are receiving a boost in their incentive. The non-food vendors will be offered $15,000 for build out cost – an increase of $5000. The food vendors will get a hefty increase to $35,000 from $20,000. Vendor lease rates have yet to be determined by the nonprofit Market Foundation.

The Roanoke City council meeting was moved to Thursday. Council members were attending the Virginia Municipal League conference in Hampton through October 5.

City Meals Tax Continues to Decline

By valerie Garner

gic deployment of officers and equipment to reduce the crime rate.”

He graduated from Marion High School in Marion, VA., and earned a B.A. in Anthro-pology from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Stud-ies from Hollins University. In addition, he holds a Graduate Certificate in Criminal Justice Education from the University of Virginia.

Perkins will direct a staff of approximately 300 employees, of which 243 are sworn. He will also serve as the city’s represen-tative and according to a city press release will be “working to build strong relationships with law enforcement agencies in the region and throughout the Commonwealth.”

Perkins, who faced a large phalanx of local media at the announcement, admitted to being “a little bit nervous” Wednesday - though he said he

was “normally used to being in front of large crowds.” He gave accolades to all members of the police department, saying “the city should be very proud of the service these professionals pro-vide and I only hope that I ex-ceed their expectations as well as those of the citizens of this community.”

He then added, “I’m eager to get started.”

By valerie Garnerinfo@newsroanoke.com Chief Christopher C. Perkins

NewsRoanoke.com 10/15/10 - 10/21/10 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |Page 3

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needs that live at home and that’s why I am honored to nominate her as the 6th Con-gressional District’s ‘Angel in Adoption’.”

Zina Hardin’s biological daughter has Down Syndrome and she has two sons that she fostered prior to their adop-tions. Her eldest son, Tomas is legally blind and suffers from brain-damage. He is almost fully reliant on Zina.

She sees successes in things most parents take for granted. He can walk and he eats more than pureed food -- both things he didn’t do before he came to Zina’s home. Aisel, Zina’s youngest son, first arrived at her house nearly starved. Ai-sel has Attention Deficit Hy-peractivity Disorder (ADHD) and a history of anger issues; however, in the Hardin house he is flourishing.

Zina feels blessed by her family. She has stated, “some people feel children born with disabilities are a burden; I feel they are a blessing. If you have the heart to work with them and appreciate them, then they can enrich your lives because they teach you about yourself

and the world.” Although Zina has transformed the lives of her children, she still wishes she had the resources to adopt more children.

“The ‘Angels in Adoption’ campaign is an opportunity to raise awareness about adop-tion and honor individuals like Zina Hardin for their ded-ication to the care of children,” Goodlatte said. “Ms. Hardin, through service in foster care and through adoption, has shown that ordinary people can do extraordinary things in the lives of others. She is cer-tainly more than deserving of

recognition.”The banquet is organized by

the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), and is held annually at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. This year, CCAI will honor actresses Kristin Chenoweth and Rhea Perlman and the producers of “Extreme Make-over: Home Edition” as their national “Angels in Adoption”.

> Angel From page 1

Alan Grant, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, announced a plan to restructure the Virginia Cooperative Ex-tension to better meet the needs of its clientele and address a cumulative reduction of $10.3 million since 2007 for the Virginia Cooperative Extension and the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station. The plan was presented to Extension faculty and staff during a live Web conference today.

"This plan allows Virginia Cooperative Exten-sion to reduce costs, maintain a local presence across the commonwealth, and continue to pro-vide high-quality, science-based educational pro-gramming for Virginia. This will allow us to shift resources to the highest-priority needs of the state and localities," Grant said. "In addition, the plan will provide local governments the opportunity to customize programming based on the needs of their community."

According to Grant, the restructuring plan pro-vides an infrastructure that will enable Extension to fulfill its land-grant mission and preserve deliv-ery of critical programs related to agriculture and natural resources, youth development, and fami-lies and communities.

"The new structure improves Extension's pro-gram delivery model by establishing issue-based program teams that will design educational pro-grams to be delivered to audiences by the locally based field staff," Grant said. "These teams will be composed of Extension educators and specialists, other Virginia Tech and Virginia State University faculty, and other collaborators."

To ensure effective implementation and deliv-ery of programming in the field, area program leaders will train, supervise, and mentor the Ex-tension educators (formerly known as Extension agents). Area program leaders will have a high level of expertise in a particular subject matter.

The plan also consolidates Extension's administrative field staff into a regional structure that includes locally based Exten-sion educators clustered around a "business center" in a three- to five-county region. The business center will house support staff as well as one or more state-funded Extension educators who will serve the region. In addition, each locality will be offered the option of housing one or more Extension educators, based on local needs. At least one educa-tor will be funded in partnership with Extension and the locality. Localities may elect to fund ad-ditional Extension educators to work on specific programs.

"This structure will allow Ex-tension to continue to meet high-priority needs with the ability to grow and contract as funding changes," Grant said.

During the announcement,

Grant stressed that the restructuring plan was only a "blueprint" for future planning and analysis of program implementation.

"We have a lot more work ahead of us as we move into the implementation phase of this re-structuring process," Grant said. "Over the next six months, we will be meeting with our local partners to discuss their programming needs and develop a plan to transition to this new structure. We will also implement the program priorities identified in the strategic plan."

Grant, who assumed temporary leadership of Extension in May, explained that the restructuring plan is a culmination of a planning process that also included the development of a five-year stra-tegic plan that identifies the organization's pro-gramming priorities. This comprehensive process involved not only Extension faculty and staff, but also numerous internal and external stakeholders, including government officials, Extension volun-teers, and industry representatives.

"While we are restructuring our administrative functions and updating our programs, our focus continues to be on the delivery of high-quality, research-based educational programs designed to serve Virginians," Grant said. "This plan builds on the long tradition of Extension excellence and creates a modern organization that transfers and applies the research at Virginia Tech and Virginia State University. This unique ability of Extension to bring research developments to the benefit of local communities has been, and now can con-tinue to be, a cornerstone for growth across the commonwealth."

The restructuring and strategic plans can be viewed on the Extension website: www.ext.vt.edu

Virginia Cooperative Extension Announces Plan To Restructure

“We now occupy the vast majority of the Community [Hospital] building,” said Bishop, who was a vice president for Carilion Clinic before taking on his new role. There are dorms on the 8th floor, with laboratory and classrooms below that and faculty/ administra-tion offices above that.

The move to Community has been in the works for about six years; space on the 5th and 6th floors was “totally demolished” and re-made into learning spaces, according to Bishop. About 1000 are enrolled this year at the school. At the last convocation, when 400 were awarded diplomas.

Several Master’s programs are now offered as well in what Bishop calls “the evolution in the life of the college.” At one point Lewis

Gale and Carilion were jointly involved with the school, but that hasn’t been the case for almost a decade now.

“There’s a need for having four year degrees,” said Bishop about the shift from a focus on two year programs; “nursing is continuing to grow and the expectations [for] registered nurses. It made sense to move in that direction.”

Students can perform clinicals at Carilion Roanoke Memorial and Jefferson College attendees will have the opportunity to work with fellow students at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medi-cine, “rather than waiting [until] their professions to start dealing with each other,” said Bishop. “It’s all to improve the outcome for patients.”

Under a tent at the reunion, former students swapped stories, ate food and listened to live music. Sue Campbell, a physician’s assis-tant who graduated in 2000, heads up the alumni program. “It was basically a new avenue in my life, my second career,” said Camp-bell, who now works for Carilion. “The program gave me a good academic base. It prepared me for a really demanding job - which I love.”

A Maryland native, Campbell liked Roanoke so much that she decided to stay here after graduation. “There’s a lot of different as-pects of my life that [Jefferson College] affected, personally and pro-fessionally.”

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PersPectivePage 4 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 10/15/10 - 10/21/10 NewsRoanoke.com

Star-Sentinel Crossword

By Don Waterfield

Find the answers online: NewsRoanoke.comHave a clue and answer you’d like to see?

email: puzzles@newsroanoek.com

Local Crossword for 10/15/2010

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15

16 17 18

19 20 21 22

23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

35 36 37 38 39

40 41 42

43 44 45 46

47 48 49 50 51

52 53 54 55

56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 67

68 69 70

71 72 73

www.CrosswordWeaver.com

ACROSS

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4 Screamer's throat dangler

9 Before (prefix) 12 Voiced 14 Weary 15 Adam's son 16 Field game 17 Ballroom dance 18 One time 19 Harriet Beacher __ 21 3-room B & B in

Salem adjacent to Roanoke College.

23 Artist Chagall 25 __ d'etat 26 Cola company 29 Roberto's yes 31 Whose treasure is

supposed to be buried outside of Bedford?

35 Boxer Muhammad 36 Employees 39 Pod vegetable 40 Play on words 41 Hurled 42 Old-fashioned Dads 43 Flurry 44 To beat severely 46 Avenue 47 Slow 49 Sight organ 50 Lubricated 52 Ancient Indian 54 Made thread 56 Tough 58 This Roanoker

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It’s a warm fall day –In-dian Summer- and the breeze follows me as I

swing open the creaky door and ascend the staircase. I hear Billy Idol on the radio. “It’s a nice day for a white wedding…It’s a nice day to…start again…” As I pass through the oddly fragrant kitchen I pause to see just what exactly is in the bubbling pot on the stove. Lifting the hot lid reveals the skull of a small ani-mal, soft bits of it dancing in the froth. “Hmmmm…,” I think as I peer through the steam, replace the lid, and continue on my way. I could say that such situations are unusual here, but that’s not the case. It’s not at all strange –well yes it is- to find small game in various states of dress in our kitchen. Doug, our resident hunter, makes sure of that.

This is urban Richmond, in the Church Hill part of town, circa 1982. My two roommates and I are renting the upstairs of an old house on East Grace St. It’s not the swankiest neighbor-hood, that’s for sure, but it is close to the dental school –we can walk or ride our bikes- and the price is right. The skinny row house is on a corner, on the edge of Church Hill, and from the windows on the north side we have a pretty good view of downtown across Shockoe Bot-tom.

We moved in at the end of August, and we settled into the thick Richmond heat. Of course there is no air conditioning, but we have electric fans, and we’re fine.

This part of Church Hill is but a shadow of its former respect-able self. There are boarded-up buildings in various stages of decay, and dilapidated houses which appear condemned but in reality are home to an unde-termined number of residents. Unsavory-looking characters ply the streets. Nights, especially hot summer ones, are colorful with the sounds of voices arguing or celebrating, gun shots, and the screeching of tires. “Wholesome and safe” is not how I’d describe the neighborhood.

We have grand dinner parties at the Church Hill place. Well, not really, but one evening I do create a somewhat lavish feast for my future wife. This din-ner features the pairing of some kind of canned, off-brand chili with spinach egg noodles, along with day-old chocolate cupcakes from the thrift store down Broad Street. Amazingly, 27 years later my first wife happens to be my current one.

Getting to the dental school every morning is a high point of my day. We usually go on foot, and most of the mile-and-a-half-long walk follows Broad Street. That part of Broad is lined by businesses in various states of “going con-cern” and there are al-ways interesting sights, sounds, and smells to experience. My fa-vorite mode of trans-portation to school, however, is to ride our junker bicycles through the back streets of Church Hill and then across the majestic Lee bridge. Along the way we pass by sizable knots of kids as they wait for the school bus. We exchange waves and they always yell “ice cream” when we pass. We finally figure out that this is because our white lab coats –flowing in the breeze- suggest our roles as sellers of butter brickle and chocolate ripple. In reality we're going to learn how to repair the damage wrought by such things.

Life is strange that way.Winter comes, and being

cheapskate college students we don’t turn on the heat; we pirate it from the kind lady who lives downstairs. Enough warmth seeps through the floor that our level remains “tolerable”, and every morning we burn the previous day’s trash in the shal-low fireplace in the kitchen. The short-lived blaze imparts cheeri-ness if not much real heat. We wear rather thick sweaters.

The hunter among us obtains a cute Brittany Spaniel puppy halfway through the school year, so we have an additional room-

mate in our Church Hill abode. Tess will make a fine bird dog, but for now she is in training, and this consists, for one thing, of chewing up everything into which she can sink her teeth. During the day, Tess stays in Doug’s room and we’re always curious to see what she has “got-ten into” upon our return in the evening. One thing I particular-ly remember is that all of Doug’s shoes are modified into slip-ons, since Tess has a penchant for chewing off the heels.

The convent across the street –that’s right, a nunnery- adds

another dimension to our life on Church Hill. Sometimes the nuns get our mail or packages, and when I go to retrieve them I get a glimpse into an-other world behind the high walls and the tiny barred windows in the double doors; a glimpse beyond the

all-too-worldly Church Hill. The nuns always have a kind word and a smile for me, and for my part I am compelled to stand up straight and attempt to convey goodness.

Nowadays - 28 years later - the Church Hill part of town is a highly desirable residence in Richmond, and old houses have been lovingly restored. The cobblestone streets make sense again, matching the historical elegance of the neighborhood. The gas streetlights have been returned to service, and tour-ists tingle hearing about Patrick Henry’s speech in old St. John’s Church.

I’ll never forget my taste of life on Church Hill in its rough-and-tumble nitty-gritty days. The tone of the place matched my own work-in-progress lack of sophistication - a stage which, I must point out, I have yet to transcend.

And I learned some great rec-ipes while I was there too.

Livin’ On Church Hill

Contact John atjwr77@verizon.net

John W. Robinson

Rushing across the kitchen floor, my two-year-old granddaugh-

ter dropped her cup of milk. “Don’t worry,” my daughter said. “It’s a sippy cup. Kid-proof.”

With an angelic smile, little Erin stooped, grasped the pink plastic cup and held it upside down in her chubby hands. Not a drop escaped.

Any mother – or grandmoth-er – who has cleaned up broken glass and milk splatters from the floor, the refrigerator, the cabi-nets and anything else within a four foot radius will appreciated the blessing of a spill proof cup.

But could such a blessing have a down side? As a former teacher of preschool children, I am concerned about the effect such modern conveniences may have on the child’s learning. As children move about, handle objects and experience the re-sults, they learn to relate to their environment.

In the sensorimotor stage, from birth to age three, percep-tions are refined and coordina-tion is developed. For example, babies learn that when they relax their finger muscles, they lose their grasp and the object drops. They enjoy observing this phenomenon, dropping toys from the high chair and screaming for mom to pick them up. Over, and over and over again! Have you ever been tempted as I, to tie a string to a toy for easy retrieval? Learning to walk involves falls and bumps on the head, but the experience helps the child avoid those movements that cause pain.

Of course parents have a re-sponsibility to protect children during this learning period. We close the door to the basement

stairs, keep sharp objects out of reach, cover electrical out-lets and remove anything that might be unintentionally de-stroyed when exposed to curi-ous fingers.

However, in our efforts to make life easier for care giv-ing adults, we may go too far in child proofing our environment. A child who holds a full cup upside down without spill-ing is not learning the law of gravity. A child whose dispos-able diapers do not cause some discom-fort when wet may take longer to toilet train. Plastic table-cloths, cups and plates make life easier for mom but fail to encourage careful handling of food.

Maria Montessori, one of the first early childhood educators, believed in providing many op-portunities for young children to develop sensorimotor skills. Children in Montessori pro-grams carry materials for their activities on trays. They learn naturally to balance the tray and hold it level to prevent spilling. If they do spill, they simply pick up the objects and try again. (Another useful lesson!)

One more aspect of our mod-ern approach to everyday skills concerns me. As a society we seem to be depending more and more on inventions and mod-ern conveniences, losing con-trol that used to rest with us as individuals. Years ago penman-ship was an art. It had to be, for records were kept by hand and legibility was essential. Just take a look at will from a hundred

years ago. Today neither parents nor teachers stress handwriting because of access to computers.

Calculators have become commonplace in math classes and permissible for use on ex-ams. A friend who teaches col-lege math said one of his stu-dents panicked during an exam,

crying uncontrol-lably. He discovered the battery in her calculator had died.

Spell check re-places learning the rules of spelling and writers can purchase software that will ensure correct gram-mar and eliminate

clichés from their compositions.

Those who differ with me will say that all of this is good. It frees the mind from the mechanics of life and lets it pursue loftier and nobler goals. Perhaps. But I wonder where we would be if suddenly we were left entirely on our own, without the gadgets we have learned to depend upon.

I don’t advocate chucking all our conveniences, but I do think we should develop our-selves to be fully independent of their control. Use the labor-saving devices most of the time, but plan times when you use real tablecloths and teach table manners. Use the calculator, computer, and spell check, but teach basic math, handwriting and. spelling.

For my part, I intend to give my grandchildren milk in real glasses. And teach them to clean up the spills.

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Halloween is pure excitement - an adrenaline rush, and then on top of that a sugar rush! So on Halloween night a good din-ner is a must before you venture out walking miles filling your Trick or Treat bag with sweets. I usually make pumpkin soup for dinner but my kids generally want no part of that. So this year I am doing things their way; I am going to make cheeseburger soup! It’s easy to make on such a busy night and no kid can refuse a soup full of Velveeta cheese! So plan ahead and get your soup ready for Halloween. It is only TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!!

1/2 pound ground beef3/4 c chopped onion3/4 c shredded carrots3/4 c diced celery1 teaspoon dried basil1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes5 Tablespoons butter, divided2 cans chicken broth4 cups peeled, diced potatoes 1/4 cup flour2 cups (8oz) Velveeta, cubed1 1/2 cup milk3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 tea-spoon pepper1/4 cup sour cream

In saucepan, brown beef; drain and set aside. In the same saucepan, saute onion, car-

rots, celery, basil and parsley in 2 Tablespoons butter until vegetables are tender (about 10 minutes). Add broth, potatoes and beef; bring to a boil. Re-duce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until po-tatoes are tender. Meanwhile, in a small pan, melt remaining 3 Tablespoons of butter. Add flour; cook and stir for 3 min-utes or until bubbly. Whisk into soup; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add Velveeta, milk, salt and pepper. Cook and stir un-til cheese melts. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream.

The Happy Chef by Leigh Sackett

Cheeseburger Soup

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For some reason bridg-es keep finding their way into my life lately

– both the physical and meta-phorical kind. It has happened with such frequency – I had to stop and take note. Is there a message I am not noticing? Is there a life lesson I should be learning?

Recently I have been work-ing on a documentary film about an artist whose spectac-ular painting serves as a connector be-tween two cultures: Nepal and America; two villages: Jom-som, Nepal (in the Western Himalayas) and Blacksburg, Vir-ginia (in the Blue Ridge Mountains); and two people: an American artist and teacher and a Tibetan amchi-lama-doctor and mind-healer. The powerful message of hu-man connectedness – against all odds – is brilliantly summed up in both the film’s narrative and the painting’s simple title: The Bridge.

I lived in the San Francisco Bay area for several years dur-ing which time I experienced many earthquakes of varying magnitude. For the most part, the tremors become a strange part of the everyday experience but the “bigger” ones always leave you feeling rattled. Dur-ing my tenure, I lived through four such “rattling” quakes. Each one stuck as I was driving on a bridge. While that might seem frightening – as the im-age of the tragic Bay Bridge col-lapse likely come to mind – in

reality it turned out to be one of the best places I could have been. The gentle sway of the bridge suspension absorbed the movement and shock – like a mother cradling her young child keeping her from harm.

The path of my life has re-sulted in a move to a new city or state about every 2 or 3 years. Sometimes facilitated by an ending and sometimes a beginning – but always serving

as a way to evaluate life’s contents. Times of such transition are a prefect oppor-tunity to appreciate the good, purge the old and embrace the new. Generally, it’s a way to deep clean my life. This fall marks two and a half

years since moving to Virginia – and like an uncon-

scious clock – my need to deep clean kicked in. Since I have no plans for a moving truck – I channeled the energy into deep cleaning my house, purging closets, and organizing rooms. During this process, I came across old letters, notes and photos – items representing bridges I have forged, bridges I have crossed and others I have burned. It got me thinking…

For many reasons I have spent a lot of time trying to keep the “eras” and “phases” of my life separated – like an is-land chain -- connected under the ocean and disconnected on the surface. Sometimes ignor-ing the opportunity to build a bridge and other times striking a match behind me and watch-ing it go up in flames. But the

older I get, the more I find I am looking to build bridges. I seek out opportunities to foster con-nections between people, com-munities, ideas, and dreams. I am drawn to new friends who have shared experiences and others who have experiences to share. I cling strongly to the friends who have made it over the rickety, Indiana Jones-like bridges of my life – at times suf-fering burns from the flames. I am inspired by their persever-ance and grateful for the safe passage.

In the coming days, I will be visiting yet another bridge near the University of Virginia to honor the memory of a young woman whose life was cut short as she made her way across. While I am mindful of the rag-ing “waters” below, I am deeply aware of – and impacted by -- the beautiful bridges her life built between people she loved and others she never met.

Merriam-Webster’s diction-ary defines the word “bridge” as “a structure carrying a path-way or roadway over a depres-sion or obstacle” or “ a time, place, or means of connection or transition.”

I’d say that just about sums it up.

Stephanie Koehler is the founder of SAKinterMedia -- a public relations + marketing + strategic planning firm in Vir-ginia.

A Perspective on Bridges

Stephanie Koehler

That’s how long before we can end The Blame Game of Politics. Be-

fore dark has settled on the eve-ning of November 2, the pundits will have told us how the elec-tions turned out and what “les-sons” have been learned. Don’t hold your breath on anything of substance having been changed.

I suspect all of us are exhausted by the claims of both par-ties that they and they alone have the solution to all the problems. The other party is to blame for all the ills that be-set us . . . that goes without saying . . . although hun-dreds of millions of dollars have been expended on saying it, ad nauseam. I sup-pose one of the most discourag-ing aspects is that many of us don’t think beyond the most superficial of responses, be they democrat or republican. Most of us hear what confirms our own beliefs and unfortunately that is often not the important message.

There is one thing that no one is telling: The truth. There’s good reason for that. The truth will assure any candidate defeat. It’s so much easier to blame the other side for the economic col-lapse and the slow recovery, for the failures of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, high unemploy-ment, and everything else that is wrong. The assumption (for which there is no proof) is that had things been done another way then all would be well. One can find plenty of commenta-

tors who will argue both sides of that case, each with a certitude that defies credulity.

Recently, I gave a presenta-tion to a dinner group on the life of Winston Churchill. It would be a mistake to suggest that the United States political system mirrors the British in

more than superfi-cial ways. Equally, it would be incorrect to assume that we can learn nothing from them.

In the 1930s the creed of the British was one of pacifism and who can blame them? The horrors of

World War I were still fresh in their minds. Prime Minister Stanley

Baldwin and his successor, Nev-ille Chamberlain, have taken more than their share of blame for being slow to recognize the dangers of The Third Reich. Churchill alone was the first to sound the alarm and history proved him right. The surpris-ing thing about his rise to Prime Minister is that he told the truth and it was a truth that no one wanted to hear: There would be war, it would be long and horri-ble, but the British would never surrender, not as long as there was a single man or woman left standing in England.

One wonders, if the Prime Minister were elected by popular vote rather than by the major-ity party in the House of Com-mons, whether Churchill would have ever led them through the Battle of Britain and the Blitz-krieg. The blunt truth . . . and it was very blunt . . . that he told

them would certainly give the average voter pause.

We face a similar situation to-day. Our nation is not about to be overrun by a foreign power. The threat of nuclear war, so real a generation ago, has lessened considerably, but the way of life we have enjoyed for the last half century is unsustainable. We want goods and services to im-prove, we want full employment and reduced taxes, we want a stable government that doesn’t control our lives, we want no wars, and we want the national debt to go away.

To believe that any of those goals are achievable without huge sacrifice is to believe in a national tooth fairy. Whoever wins the election, it will not be because that truth has been told but because we have chosen someone who tells us what we want to hear. Sooner or later, the bitter truth will be applied and the longer it is put off, the more unpleasant it will be.

Churchill, along with a lot of help from the United States, saved Britain by telling them the truth in 1938. The thanks of the British people as soon as the war was over was to turn his party out of office. His replacement, Clement Atlee, told the people what they wanted to hear, and Britain has never been the same since their finest hour.

We should remember that on November 2 and look for those who tell the truth, unpleasant though it will be. So far, I haven’t heard any. The platitudes of politics may win the day, but change is coming and we’re not going to like it.

Only Three More Weeks!

Hayden Hollingsworth

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A few months ago I purchased a used car. It wasn’t a par-ticularly life changing event and yet it brought back a lesson I learned when I was 17 yrs. old. When I say a

lesson, I don’t mean that it was in a formal teaching environment or that there was a clear cause and effect event. It was more of a teachable moment between my father and me. When I was in high school I purchased my first car. It was a 1965 Chevy Mal-ibu. It was blue with a white top and already 20 years old when I bought it. No, my parents were not into cruel and unusual punishment, they just weren’t going to buy an expen-sive car for me, I was a kid. I remember clearly go-ing to the DMV and filling out paperwork for the title and asking my Dad about putting down the purchase price of the car, which of course the tax was based on. To this day I remember every word of the conversa-tion. His comment to me was this, “You can put down whatever you want but you have a choice, you can save a little money or you can do what is right.” That was it, he was done. It was up to me. That was a teachable moment.

You can read on the internet, in articles or even in the newspaper and get many different meanings of a teachable moment. Here is the definition that I use. A teachable moment is something that occurs between a parent or adult and a pre-adolescent or older child (an event that occurs with those capable of abstract thinking). It is not connected to discipline or punishment (not a formal cause and effect learning situation). It is the opportunity to point out a free choice that one has in the face of a moral or ethical dilemma (a choice between right and wrong or good and bad). The last part is the most important; a moral or ethical dilemma. Whether we realize it or not, our children are faced with these every day. Should I lie to my teacher about my homework, should I look

on her paper during the test, should I copy this article from the internet, should I keep that wallet I found on the ground, etc? Unfortunately, we don’t always guide them through these dif-ficulties.

Over the years, I have worked with many families that be-lieved their job was done after formal teaching. They did not understand the whole modeling and guiding aspect of parent-ing. Yet, it is during these times when our children most need guidance to know how to apply the formal teaching they have al-

ready received. Knowledge without understanding of application is useless. When we leave children to face moral dilemmas without guidance, their fallback is often going on feeling rather than reason. Emotions rarely drive moral decisions during adolescence.

So how do we maximize teachable moments? First, look for them, they are everywhere. Point out the clear choices of right and wrong. Often children don’t ascertain in a situation that they either have a choice or what the choices are. I didn’t really think about the option of putting down a lesser amount for my car, my father pointed that out. That acknowledge-ment set up the teachable moment. Second, attach meaning to the choices. Address that one choice is moral and upholds what is right, is indicative or good

character, honors God, etc. and that the other is inconsistent with these ideals. My father told me I had a choice and clearly attached value to the options. Third, encourage and praise good choices. A little reinforcement goes a long way. My father, who is a man of little fanfare, just smiled. I knew I made the right choice, the teachable moment was finished.

Lastly, our ability to manage teachable moments is based on our own credibility. Our chil-dren know what type of indi-

viduals we are, whether we realize it or not. My father has cred-ibility with me. My mother does as well. I have no memory of them ever lying to me, being dishonest to others or even making immoral decisions. Now, I am not saying that parents have to be perfect, we can’t be. We do however have to live lives of good moral character to have any credibility when we attempt to help our children maneuver through moral dilemmas. When we have credibility, they pay attention. As with my father, because he is a moral man, teachable moments come easily and often……I still get them today.

Used Cars and Teachable Moments

Contact Keith atpsycyou@msn.com

Keith McCurdy

The Roanoke Star-Sentinel

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

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

Communi ty | News | Perspect ive

Publisher | Stuart Revercomb | stuart@newsroanoke.com Features Editor | Cheryl Hodges | cheryl@newsroanoke.comNews Editor | Gene Marrano | gmarrano@cox.netProduction Editor | Leigh Sackett | leigh@newsroanoke.comTechnical Webmaster | Don Waterfield | webmaster@newsroanoke.comAdvertising Director | Bill Bratton | advertising@newsroanoke.com

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Grandin Court Elementary School needed a gym, espe-cially after absorbing students from now-closed Raleigh Court Elementary School ear-lier this year. In the past the cafeteria has also doubled as the physical education venue. But money is tight of course and the budgets have been shrinking in recent years.

So the Roanoke City School system came up with a novel approach: instead of building a typical bricks and mortar gym, a composite material skin that includes Teflon, stretched over a steel frame and set on a con-crete slab, was erected instead.

Last week the ribbon was cut on the new $400,000 gym, which could be a prototype for other Roanoke elemen-tary schools that also need a gymnasium. Grandin Court Elementary principal Terri Pritchard thanked all of those involved, who put their heads together to come up with a logical solution in tough eco-nomic times. “Together we … achieved our goal and fulfilled the need for having a gym,” said Pritchard.

“Finding the money to build a gym was no easy task,” added Pritchard, who praised assistant superintendent Curt Baker for looking “outside the box” in coming up with a so-lution. Before the ribbon was cut a steady stream of young students came to the podium to talk about the games they like to play in the cafeteria, including soccer and some-thing called “shark,” evidently

a form of tag. Now they can play those games in the new gym, which has an expected life span of 25 years minimum before the skin may have to be replaced.

The Roanoke office of Clark-Nexsen (architecture & engi-neering) worked with supplier Strong Structures and the city to make the Grandin Court Elementary gym a reality. The mechanical-electrical system and a storage bathroom area were added to the prefab de-sign by Clark-Nexsen, accord-ing to Director of Architecture Lora J. Katz. “This facility cost about half of what a bricks and mortar gym would be,” said Katz.

The firm has done other projects for the city, including the new Patrick Henry High School culinary facility and a makeover of the old William Ruffner Middle School build-ing to accommodate office

space. After a month of site preparation and foundation work it took about a week to erect the structure. “It’s very quick to put up and inexpen-sive,” said Katz. Two layers of the composite skin surround a thick layer of insulation.

After the ribbon cutting, School Board chairman Da-vid Carson watched a video of the construction process put together by teachers. “[The school] needed a play area [and] with very light financ-es this is what they came up with, to allow us to build [for less money and in less time].” Carson can see where other el-ementary schools like Round Hill might benefit from a simi-lar structure. “We’ve got to be creative. As we move forward maybe this is something we want to do.”

Grandin Court Gets a New Gym - In Less Time And For Half The Price

By Gene Marranogmarrano@cox.net

Photo by Gene Marrano

Grandin Court Elementary School’s new gym didn’t break the bank.

The Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Conference has an-nounced the winners receiving awards at the 11th annual Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Conference (VSNC) recently held at the Hotel Roanoke.

Neighborhood Project of the Year - The Roanoke Neighborhood Revitalization Partnership/Hurt Park was the recipient of the 2010 VSNC Neighborhood Project of the Year award. The Partnership - a unique consortium comprised of the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority, Total Action Against Poverty, Blue Ridge Hous-ing Development Corporation, Rebuilding Together Roanoke, and Habitat for Humanity - was formed to improve housing and other conditions in the Hurt Park neighborhood. Working together with the City of Roanoke and the Hurt Park Neighborhood Alliance, the Partnership has constructed 40 new townhouses and 13 new single-family homes, provided owner-occupied rehabilitation for 56 hom-

eowners, and demolished eight derelict and blighted structures, in addition to enhancing opportunities for home ownership and im-proving the relationship between residents and local government, among other accomplishments.

Neighborhood Organization of the Year - Old Southwest Inc. (OSW) was the recipient of the 2010 VSNC Neighborhood Orga-nization of the Year award. OSW was created by concerned resi-dents to protect and maintain the historic integrity of Roanoke’s Old Southwest neighborhood. In 1979, the first annual Holiday Parlor Tour of Homes was created to help raise funds to save the historic Alexander-Gish House, which has become a focal point of the neighborhood. Today, funds raised from the annual Parlor Tour support OSW’s Neighbors Helping Neighbors initiative, National Night Out activities, the Preservation Award Program, and various other neighborhood enhancement projects.

Advocate of the Year - Connie Moses of Woodbridge was recog-nized for her leadership and growing commitment to her immedi-ate neighborhood and community. She created the neighborhood Pride Week, has taken on the role of President of the Dale Civic As-sociation; and maintains a comprehensive website for her commu-nity that directly informs her neighbors of crime activity, reports property code violations, and publishes a monthly newsletter

Youth Individual Effort of the Year - 1 By Youth a program hosted in Manassas was recognized for their creative outreach in partnering with Colorado based company Group Cares. Selected as a National Pilot Program Site, 1 By Youth mobilized 1,000 local youth and adult volunteers which converged and reshaped a single neighborhood in a single day.

For additional information, visit the Virginia Statewide Neighbor-hood Conference website at www.vsnc.org.

City Of Roanoke Receives Two Neighborhood Awards

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After the announcement that C. Richard Dickie Cranwell is stepping down as Chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia speculation on his replacement immediately began.

There was a rumor last year that the Vinton attorney would step down but he was asked to stay on for at least another year. In a phone conversation at that time Cranwell said he would have been willing to step aside for someone else.

Brian Moran was being whis-pered then as Cranwell's re-placement.

Delegate Brian Moran repre-sented parts of Fairfax and Al-exandria before stepping down to run as a candidate in the Democratic primary for gover-nor. He came in third behind Creigh Deeds and Terry McAu-liffe. Moran's older brother is Jim Moran, a U.S. Congressman from Virginia's 8th district.

It remains to be seen if Mo-ran is still interested in the spot.

A lot can change in a year. An update from RSS News Partner WSLS10 confirms Moran as first choice.

Cranwell, the former House Leader became Virginia's Dem-ocratic chair June 18, 2005.

Terry McAuliffe's statement on the Resignation of DPVA Chairman Dick Cranwell

"I would like to thank Dick Cranwell for his 39 years of public service to Virginia and the Democratic Party. For the past five years, Dick has suc-ceeded in making the DPVA one of the top state parties in the

country. His leadership helped us elect Tim Kaine Governor in 2005, Jim Webb to the US Sen-ate in 2006, take back the Vir-ginia Senate in 2007, and elect Mark Warner to the US Senate in 2008. Additionally, Dick's leadership helped Virginia elect President Barack Obama in 2008 - the first time we elected a Democrat in 44 years.

During Dick's tenure he brought in a permanent profes-sional staff that worked hand-in-hand with campaigns and purchased a facility to serve as the long term home for the state party operations.

As the former Chairman of the Democratic National Com-mittee, I can relate to the time such a position as state party chair can keep you from your family. I am sure that his wife Elizabeth and their two sons Joe and Jack are happy he'll be home more often, but Virginia Democrats will miss his strong leadership."

Who Will Replace Dickie Cranwell?

C. Richard "Dickie" Cranwell

Michael and Molly Wood are proud to an-nounce the arrival of their first born, Cheyanne Faye Wood, born September 16, 2010, at 6:13PM at Riverside Medical Center in Newport News. Cheyanne weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20.5 inches long at birth. Cheyanne joins a proud family to include maternal grandparents, Mike and Denise Bailey of Roanoke, maternal grand-mother, Lois McConnell of Roanoke, mater-nal grandparents, Doug (Bill) and Ann Bailey, paternal grandparents, Rob and Ellen Wood of Chesapeake and numerous excited uncles, aunts and cousins.

Birth AnnouncementCheyanne Faye Wood

sPorts 10/15/10 - 10/21/10 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |Page 7SavingsSavingsStarStarSentinelSentinelLook for Money Saving Coupons

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Cave Spring ended several years of frustrating losses last Friday night as the Knights scored 21 first quarter points and never looked back in a dominating River Ridge opening win at Dwight Bogle Stadium. After last year's 42-0 loss, the Knight seniors were looking for revenge and Tim Fulton's talented squad made Salem pay.

Cave Spring's Ryan Gerhardt took the opening kickoff 49 yards and, two plays later, Cave Spring was on the board via a Josh Woodrum to Michael Cole 27-yard pass. Later in the first the two would again connect from 14 yards out to extend the lead to 14-0. After a Spartan fumble turned the ball over moments later, Woodrum went to the air on a 21-yard hookup with senior Austin Micklem as the Knight offense was clicking on all cylinders.

Woodrum kept Salem off-balance all evening. When the Liberty University-bound quarterback wasn't throwing the ball all over the field to his multitude of receivers, tenacious running back Sam Wright was punishing the Spartans on his way to 95-yards on 21 carries.

Cave Spring extended its lead to 28-0 on an Adam Anderson 33-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter before Salem finally got on the score-board on an Adam McGarrell to Clint Peregoy 25-yard toss. Any hopes of a Salem comeback were dashed when Wright plunged in from the one to put the game away. The swarming Cave Spring de-fense harassed Salem all night, forcing five Spartan turnovers.

Cave Spring Rolls In 34-6 Blowout Over Salem

Cave Spring running back #28 Sam Wright dives toward the goal line as Salem's Chad Fisher (#3 in white) tries to make the stop.

Liberty Christian won the battle of special teams as the Bulldogs held on to defeat North Cross 24-14 last Friday at Thomas Field. Liberty Christian used a blocked punt for a safety and subsequent 62-yard punt return to help build a 15-0 first quarter lead they would never relinquish. The Bull-dogs would increase the lead to 24-0 in the third quarter be-fore North Cross closed the gap on a 81-yard touchdown pass from Thomas Weaver to Brandon Trent and a 6-yard strike to Fuller Clark. The Raider defense held tough against the bigger Liberty Christian squad, but the deficit proved too much to overcome in the VIC matchup. Liberty improved to 6-0 (1-0 VIC), North Cross fell to 5-2 (2-1 VIC).

Raiders Fall To Undefeated Liberty Christian

North Cross' Brandon Trent battles for a reception against a Liberty Christian defender.

Raider running back Myles Poindexter (in red) battles for yardage against a host of Bulldog tacklers.Photos and recap by Bill Turner

Photos and recap by Bill Turner

Last week's picks went amazingly well as I improved to 7-2 for the week. The highlight was picking three previously unbeaten teams to fall and having all three (Salem, Alleghany and Roanoke Catholic) comply in crash and burn fashion by a total margin of 96 points. After last week's stellar performance the mail started pouring in with questions about my selections. I'll address a couple in view of space limita-tions:

Dear Wild Bill: Since the RSS picks are the first to hit the newsstand each week, do you solicit outside help on the choices? ( R.S. / Low Moor,Va)

Answer: Absolutely. I contact Cousin Virgil, distant relative of the late Barney Fife. Virgil has possession of the box to evoke the spirit of Count Isvondalecky. The 400-year-old Count is awesome on high school games.

Dear W.B.: Now that we've rolled over Central Michigan, do you see the Hokies running the table and making it to the BCS National Championship game? ( F.B. / Blacksburg,Va)

Answer: Well, F.B., this column is typically limited to high school football. But, I'll bend the rules this time to give you a detailed and analytically-based answer: NO.

Please Send your questions to: info@news-roanoke.com

Here's a look at this week's high school matchups which include a couple of opponents from outside the area:

In the Western Valley District, Franklin County (5-1) invades Gainer Field to take on the Patriots of Patrick Henry. PH (4-3) won impressively last week on the road at GW Dan-ville, a tall order for sure. Franklin County has all the weapons. PH needs to keep it close into the fourth quarter to have a chance. Franklin County-28 PH-17

William Fleming (0-6) goes out of state look-ing to pick up its first win. This might not be the best place to look- Bluefield, WV (5-1) is ranked fourth in the West Virginia AA polls and the Beavers have an explosive attack. Blue-field-34 William Fleming-13

In the Blue Ridge, Alleghany pays a visit to Lord Botetourt (3-4). Both are 0-1 in the dis-trict, but Alleghany's (6-1) only loss was to powerful Northside. Expect the Mountaineers to get back on track this week when they roll

down Rt. 220 and the Cavs. Alleghany-30 Lord Botetourt-10

Northside entertains William Byrd and un-less the Vikings (6-1) have a hangover from their blowout win in Low Moor last Friday they should easily dispatch the Terriers (3-3). Byrd had an open date last week which should rev up Jeff Highfill's trick plays. Northside-29 William Byrd-13

Blacksburg (3-3) comes to Salem Stadium where the Spartans are still smarting from the

Cave Spring smackdown. It's unthink-able to believe Salem (5-1) would open the River Ridge with two losses. Even with injury problems, there's too much talent roaming the Salem side-lines for the Bruins to handle. Salem- 27 Blacksburg- 16

Cave Spring (4-2) comes off the big win at home over Salem and travels to postseason-ineligible Pulaski County.

It's tough enough to play at the Cougar den in any circumstances, but this year Pulaski (3-3) can only

play the spoiler. Unless the Knight offense goes into high gear, this one may be close. Cave Spring - 26 Pulaski County -24

Christiansburg (6-0) hits the artificial turf at Dwight Bogle Stadium to play Hidden Valley (0-6). Even if Christiansburg is looking ahead to their game next week at Salem, it may be ask-ing too much for the Titans to prevail. Chris-tiansburg - 27 Hidden Valley - 7

Glenvar makes the trip to Riner to battle one-win Auburn in the Three Rivers. Glenvar (5-2) breaks its two-game losing streak in this one with ease. Glenvar- 38 Auburn- 6

North Cross travels to Virginia Beach to take on Atlantic Shores in a VIS contest. It's the first road game in seven weeks for North Cross (5-2) and the first home game for the Seahawks (4-2). The teams have played one common opponent, Liberty Christian, to whom the Raiders fell by 10 points and Atlantic Christian by 52. North Cross - 22 Atlantic Shores- 9

Roanoke Catholic (4-1) looks to get back in the win column with a trip to Rappahannock County (1-5). Other than a win over a Penn-sylvania boarding academy, Rappahannock has been outscored 210-14 in the five losses. Enough said. Roanoke Catholic - 41 Rappah-annock- 7

Wild Bill’s Fearless Football Forecast

By Bill Turnerinfo@newsroanoke.com

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October 23-24

Cave Spring, down 2-0 to previously unbeaten Hidden Valley, rallied for three straight games to knock off the Ti-tans Tuesday night at the Hidden Valley gym, 17-25; 17-25; 25-21; 25-23; 15-12

The Knights had lost the first two games by identical 25-17 scores, and trailed in the third before mounting a late comeback to prevail 25-21. Game four was tied 22-22 when Cave Spring got hot and outscored the Titans 3-1 to send the match into a fifth-game tiebreaker. The final 15-point game was last tied at 10 when Cave Spring found its mojo and reeled off a 5-2 run to complete the comeback.

Cave Spring Comeback Shocks Hidden Valley

Cave Spring reacts after they score the deciding point in the fifth-game tiebeaker.

Cave Spring defenders #1 Shannon Craighead and #11 Kelsey Sine try to block a kill attempt by Hidden Valley #5 Jenny Clark. By Bill Turner

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Bowie State Downs St. Paul's 16-10 In Western Virginia Education Classic

Bowie State (in white) battles St. Paul's (in orange) in the trenches.

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Catholic Defeats North Cross

Celtics #3 Katherine Logue tips as Raider #10 Kaki Comer attempts a block.

Celtics #11 Aidan Guilfoyle slides from the middle to slam the ball.

Roanoke Catholic knocked off North Cross in volleyball 25-14, 20-25, 16-25, 25-22, 15-7. Roanoke Catholic came out strong winning easily in the first game; North Cross made some adjustments and fought back winning the next two games. The fourth game was close but Roanoke Catholic came back to win it tying the competition and forcing a fifth tie breaker game to 15. The Celtics prevailed in the short game to win the match. As the regu-lar seasons for both teams are wrapping up the two teams most likely will meet again in con-ference and state playoffs.

Catholic Star to Play at Lafayette Roanoke Catholic senior Aidan Guilfoyle, a

first team All-State selection and second-team All-Timesland selection in 2009/2010, has made a verbal commitment to play volleyball for Division I Lafayette in Easton, PA. She will sign her National letter of intent in November. Guilfoyle is a five year starter, middle hitter and captain for the Celtics, who are currently the top ranked team in the state in the latest Division III Virginia Independent school poll. She is Roanoke Catholic's first female athlete to make a four year commitment to a Division I school. Guilfoyle picked Lafayette over a num-ber of schools that included Princeton, Provi-dence, Indianapolis and Bentley.

Suzanne Guilfoyle (mother), Frank Guilfloye (father), Aidan Guilfoyle & Patrick Patterson (principal).

NewsRoanoke.com 10/15/10 - 10/21/10 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |Page 9

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Roanoke | Fishersville | Charlottesville | MartinsvilleChristiansburg | Lynchburg

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Dear Hayden / RSSSeveral weeks ago while passing through Roa-

noke on a drive to Pennsylvania from Texas, my wife and I picked up a copy of The Roanoke Star-Sentinel at the Roanoke Hampton Inn. After read-ing your Perspective column "Walter Cronkite...Please Come Back" I had to drop you this email (the first time I have ever done this by the way).

My wife and I lived in San Antonio, Texas for the past two years, and have decided to return to our birth state of Pennsylvania for our retirement years. While in Texas, my son and daughter-in-law took me to the LBJ library at the University of Texas to see the Walter Cronkite display for my

61st birthday. They knew that I idolized Walter. My family has heard me constantly complain about today's TV "journalists" and their search for fame and stardom.

How refreshing it is to read that someone out their agrees with me and described it so articu-lately. Thank you. I have carried the Perspective page clear up to Pennsylvania with the intent on writing to you when things settled down. If you haven't already seen it, the Cronkite exhibit is worth a look.

"And that's the way it is!"

- Thanks again, Bob in PA.

Letters - Thanks From PA

Wake up early after an exciting Friday Night High School Football Game at Victory Stadium.

Morning: Rake loose leaves in yard to the edge of my street for City to Pick-Up.

Lunch: Go to the Market Building and eat at one of many local food vendors and pay the high-est meals tax in the nation.

Afternoon: Get in a relaxing 18 holes of golf at Countryside.

Unfortunately, the only thing we can actually do on this list is pay the excessive meals tax.

The tax increase was based on an projected RCPS estimate and when the final numbers came

down from the State, the deficit was much less than predicted. Where will all that extra money go?

Add to this the agreement City Council so quickly broke with the Raleigh Court Neighbors over PH stadium usage and lighting. Do these guys realize who they are working for? Their sala-ries may not be as out of control as their Council counterparts in Bell, CA, but their attitudes cer-tainly are.

- Gayle Hutchman, Roanoke City

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Dear Editor, The big lobbyists-for-hire

now all share identical char-acteristics and interests. They have truly become one-stop shopping for all political in-fluence needs.

There is no bigger testa-ment to this than environ-mentalist lobbyists. One way Americans foot the bill is at the pump. For decades, the US has been prohibited from drilling for oil contain-ing billions of barrels of oil. Yet China, Cuba, Canada, and others continue to drill from those same places, such as oil fields fifty miles from Key West, Florida. ANWR, in Alaska, has estimated capac-ity of a million barrels a day. However, it is barred from de-velopment.

According to Minerals Management Service and Bu-reau Of Land Management has 139 billion barrels of re-coverable oil. Of the 279 mil-lion acres of federal land with "potential oil and natural gas resources",60 percent is off limits. 23 percent is open to restrictive leases. The remain-der is open to oil drilling on the same terms as private land.

The EPA's convoluted rules, such as mandating the pro-

duction and sale of fifteen unique "boutique" fuel blends throughout the nation, has stretched U.S. refinery ca-pacity too thin. The slightest refinery issues cause severe supply difficulties and price hikes.

Not one refinery has been built since 1976. Not one nuclear plant has been built in a decade. All development

is frozen due to higher taxes and to interpretive regula-tions. As world oil demand grows exponentially, Ameri-cans should rely much less on foreign oil sources.

Lobbying law firms must be limited. Ban all judicial, leg-islative, and executive lobby-ists from office.

- Harsha Sankar, Covington

Lobbying Law Firms Must be LimitedAlmost all of us will use natural gas extracted from the Marcellus by a process called "fracking" (short for hydrau-lic fracturing). And so, like mountaintop removal, you and I figure into the story every time we benefit while others pay the true costs of our energy convenience.

The table for this energy feast is one we've dined at before--an ancient sea bed called the Appalachian Ba-sin. Hundreds of millions of years even before coal, and even deeper in the earth, shallow seas accumulated de-posits of silt consisting large-ly of microscopic sea organ-isms in a sediment which has since been compressed into a previously-ignored hydro-carbon-bearing rock known as the Marcellus shale.

The mining process for shale, perfected by Halibur-ton in the late 40s, has until recently been a very expen-sive form of mining, mostly restricted to vertical wells out west. The process was largely neglected until incentivized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which, under pressure from certain politicians of the times, infamously exempted "fracking" from the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Safe Drinking Water acts. (Read that sentence again and let it soak in.) Consequently, US shale gas has risen from 1% in 2000 to 20% of supply in 2009.

New technologies and higher gas prices as well as geo-politics have colluded to bring this controversial form of mining to a new prominence in recent years near eastern US population centers like Philadelphia and New York City. And Ap-palachia is being hailed as the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas."

Mining the Marcellus in-volves several essential tools and methods. Let's look at a typical well. Since 2003, drill bits at the end of a ver-tical shaft can be turned to cut a hole horizontally for thousands of feet —a tech-nique we've seen employed in the Deepwater debacle in the Gulf recently. Once the

horizontal shaft is created, the shale will be explosively fractured by water pressure and chemicals to release the methane gas.

A single fracturing event requires (1) from one to sev-en million gallons of fresh water taken from surface or groundwater sources locally (a single well can be fracked up to 18 times); (2) sand or ceramic beads that will keep open the fissures created by the enormous pressure; and (3) some fifteen thousand gallons of a chemical soup called "fracking fluid.”

Until recent public pres-sure brought about a partial release of this information, the chemistry of fracking flu-id--like oil dispersants in the Gulf--was a "trade secret" and beyond the light of health-science scrutiny. Some of this fluid stays underground, its long-term future unknown; about 75% comes back up the drill casing to the surface, a total volume over a drilled community of hundreds of millions of gallons of pos-sibly radioactive and consis-tently chemical-laden “pro-duced water” or “flowback” that must be be dealt with.

Marcellus hydro-fracking is today's Gold Rush. It is a feeding frenzy in which many are getting very rich very fast. The industry is largely unregulated and of-ten favors corporate benefits over community costs. Here’s a quick view of the face-off as of late 2010:

* Like the Deepwater tech-nology, hydrologic fractur-ing in the Marcellus has been

declared safe (cough!) by the industry.

* Violations and mistakes have resulted in contamina-tion of individual wells by methane and other hydro-carbons resulting in illness and numerous videos online of flammable tap water.

* In New York state, no fracking will take place dur-ing an indefinite moratori-um—at risk, the drinking water for 19 million citizens.

* New rules went into ef-fect in Wyoming on Septem-ber 15, 2010, requiring natu-ral gas drillers to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing

* The shale mining movie "Gasland" is gaining wide-spread attention.

*Homeland Security is tracking individuals and groups known to oppose current methods of shale gas mining.

An enormous reservoir of fossil fuel energy is tied up in deep shales. Natural gas has a lower CO2 footprint than liquid petroleum or coal. It’s also sadly true that we do not have other transitional fuels in the wings to sustain us across the inevitable switch from carbon-based to non-carbon-based energy sourc-es. But while considering the short-term advantage of extraction, we must take into account the full, long-term costs. This story is just now bubbling to the surface. I'd suggest you not light a match anywhere near it.

- Fred First, Floyd, VA

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2115 Crystal Spring AvenueRoanoke, VA 24014540-344-9211

You’re Invited …A new tax law change makes this year a particularly good time to consider converting from a traditional, SEP or SIMPLE IRA to a Roth IRA.

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Edward Jones, its employees and financial advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Please contact a qualified tax or legal professional regarding your situation.

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Call today to reserve space for yourself and a guest at this free educational seminar.

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Date:

time:

Location:

[Enter RSVP]

Lunch will be served.

Friday, October 22, 2010

12:00 noon

2115 Crystal Spring Ave

RSVP: 540-344-9211

Carl M Grove, AAMS®Financial Advisor.

2115 Crystal Spring AvenueRoanoke, VA 24014540-344-9211

You’re Invited …A new tax law change makes this year a particularly good time to consider converting from a traditional, SEP or SIMPLE IRA to a Roth IRA.

Find out why at our free seminar Roth IRAs: Retirement Can Be Less Taxing. You’ll learn about:

Differences between traditional and Roth IRAs❚❚

Features of the new tax law change❚❚

Benefits of converting to a Roth IRA and important tax ❚❚

considerations

Edward Jones, its employees and financial advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Please contact a qualified tax or legal professional regarding your situation.

How Does Tax-free Income sounD?New IRA OppORtuNItIes FOR 2010

Call today to reserve space for yourself and a guest at this free educational seminar.

www.edwardjones.com Member SIPC

Date:

time:

Location:

[Enter RSVP]

Lunch will be served.

Friday, October 22, 2010

12:00 noon

2115 Crystal Spring Ave

RSVP: 540-344-9211

Carl M Grove, AAMS®Financial Advisor.

2115 Crystal Spring AvenueRoanoke, VA 24014540-344-9211

You’re Invited …A new tax law change makes this year a particularly good time to consider converting from a traditional, SEP or SIMPLE IRA to a Roth IRA.

Find out why at our free seminar Roth IRAs: Retirement Can Be Less Taxing. You’ll learn about:

Differences between traditional and Roth IRAs❚❚

Features of the new tax law change❚❚

Benefits of converting to a Roth IRA and important tax ❚❚

considerations

Edward Jones, its employees and financial advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Please contact a qualified tax or legal professional regarding your situation.

How Does Tax-free Income sounD?New IRA OppORtuNItIes FOR 2010

Call today to reserve space for yourself and a guest at this free educational seminar.

www.edwardjones.com Member SIPC

Date:

time:

Location:

[Enter RSVP]

Lunch will be served.

Friday, October 22, 2010

12:00 noon

2115 Crystal Spring Ave

RSVP: 540-344-9211

Carl M Grove, AAMS®Financial Advisor.

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When Congress took no action regarding estate taxes in 2009 -- 2010 ushered in an automatic end to estate and generation-skipping taxes for a peri-od of one year. Although, many thought Congress would enact a replacement system starting Janu-ary 1, 2010 -- to date no action has been taken. It is now looking less likely that any change will occur in the tax year -- meaning 2010 will serve as a hiatus from the estate tax.

This year has seen the deaths of several public figures whose estates would be severely affected by the retroactive imposition of an estate tax. They range from entertainers (the venerable Art Linkletter and the quirky Dennis Hopper) and literary lions (the aristocratic Louis Auchincloss and the reclusive J. D. Salinger) to lesser known but fabulously wealthy persons such as Taco Bell founder Glen Bell.

Former New York Yankee owner George Stein-brenner recently died and his wealth was esti-mated at $1.5 billion. Even at the prior 45% top tax rate, a savings of $675 million would provide a substantial budget for tax lawyers. Given the cur-rent political climate for the upcoming election cycle, a retroactive imposition of any such estate taxes now seems even more unlikely.

An unfortunate consequence of this uncer-tainty is the affect on wealthy people of advanced years or poor health. As 2011 approaches, what decisions might be made under advance medical directives and “do not resuscitate” orders? Aside from selfish motives, decision makers are bound to be swayed by their honest opinion of what a dy-ing relative would want when the stakes for the family are so high. Good tax planning used to be geared to life’s inception—a child born in De-cember had the same dependency exemption as one born in January. Tax issues this year actually cloud the end of life too.

Should Congress continue to wait, the estate tax will return with a vengeance on January 1, 2011 with an exemption of $1 million (as opposed to the prior $3.5 million) and a top tax rate of 55% (as opposed to 45% in 2009). The $1 million generation-skipping exemption would gradually become somewhat greater (it is adjusted for infla-tion), but the sole tax rate would be 55%, with no graduation.

Some lawmakers are proposing a permanent abolition of the estate tax. Another proposed bill would install a $5 million per person exemption.

The vagaries of election year politics make even informed speculation questionable. The unin-tended consequences of the Federal Tax proposals are far reaching and Virginia is no exception.

Action by Virginia General Assembly. Virginia law now takes into account the possibility that the temporary elimination of the estate tax might produce results that would be contrary to a dece-dent’s wishes.

Many wills have formulas that allocate to a “family,” “bypass,” or “credit shelter” trust an amount equal to the largest amount that would escape estate taxation by virtue of the individual’s exemption. The rest is allocated to a spouse or to a trust for the spouse. In the event that no estate tax is imposed in 2010, the allocation to the credit shelter would be zero and everything would pass to the marital share. Because presumably wills and trusts were drafted with the idea that there would be allocations other than to the spouse’s share, the Virginia legislature decided that it was more likely than not that a will containing this formula would produce a skewed result for a per-son dying in 2010.

Example. A 2005 will allocated the applicable exemption to a trust for children with the remain-der to a second husband, not the children’s father. The testator was satisfied with the 2009 allocation of $3.5 million to the children’s trust. She died in 2010, when there is no estate tax and thus no ex-emption. This would mean the children get noth-ing and the husband everything. The Virginia legislation returns things to the initial intention.

Planning. Note the figure from the example: $3.5 million. Many tax oriented wills and trusts were drafted when the exemption was $600,000, and the existing allocation may mean that a spouse’s share may be far less than anticipated, perhaps zero. If, as expected, the estate tax returns in some form, a review of your estate plan is more critical than ever.

Ted Troland is an Estate Planning and Tax At-torney with Glenn, Feldmann, Darby & Goodlatte – visit www.gfdg.com to learn more.

The Federal Estate Tax: What Does It Mean For You?Field to Fork, a regional food network-

ing event for local food producers and retail, commercial and institutional buyers will be held Monday, November 1, 2010 at the Claude Moore Education Complex and Dumas Center in downtown Roanoke.

The purpose of the event is to facilitate con-nections between local food producers and commercial buyers in the Roanoke region. While many private buyers already frequent the region’s extensive farmers’ markets to buy local food for their families, many retail, commercial, and institutional buyers have yet to fully experi-ence the region’s available food resources. This event is for local farmers, restaurants, grocers, bed and breakfasts, schools, retirement com-munities, and other local businesses interested in sourcing new product and learning what the region’s producers have to offer.

The purchase and consumption of locally grown foods contributes to the environmen-tal, economic, and good health of our region. By providing a space where local growers and buyers can meet and network, organizers hope to help cultivate relationships to ultimately ig-nite and sustain a local foods movement in the greater Roanoke Valley region.

Christy Gabbard, director of VT EarthWorks stated, “By bringing together producers and buyers in the same room, we will increase the availability of fresh, local food while support-ing our hard working producers, and keeping money circulating in our community.”

Prior to the event, new farmers are invited at 2pm to an hour-long overview of available re-sources and services available to support their efforts. The event begins formally at 3 pm with a panel and interactive discussion with the au-

dience on best practices for successfully buying and selling locally grown food. The panel fea-tures individuals who have successfully bought, produced and/or distributed local food within the commonwealth and include Christopher Carpenter from Washington and Lee Univer-sity, Craig Rogers of Border Springs Farm, Mi-chael Martin with Ferrum College, Chef Jeff Farmer of Lucky, and others.

Following the panel discussion, guests will have the opportunity to network with one an-other. Farmers are asked to bring information about the products they offer, while buyers are asked to bring a product wish list includ-ing information about quantity and price point needs.

The event will culminate with a dinner pre-pared by the Culinary Institute at Virginia Western Community College featuring local foods purchased from or donated by event at-tendees. Dinner will be served at 7 pm under a tent located in the center of Henry Street, N. W. The cost of the entire event is $20 per person.

Organizers expect Field to Fork to be a fun and informative event to make new connec-tions for both farmers and purchasers, and to enhance the economic, environmental, and public health of our region. “We have pulled together a creative planning team and have de-signed Field to Fork to be fun and informative, while creating space for business relations to be born,” says Gabbard.

For more information, please visit www.roa-nokefieldtofork.com or contact Christy Gabbard, Director of VT EarthWorks at 540.767.6114. To register online for this event, visit www.cpe.vt.edu/reg/f2f/.

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The word was out about one of the area’s largest all-pottery shows featuring works by more than fifty area potters. There were yard signs, save-the-date picture post cards, an ad in the Star-Sentinel and word-of-mouth buzz to entice the con-genial crowd that showed up Friday night, October 9 at still-new-to-many Patrick Henry High School.

Knowledgeable pottery lov-ers quickly filled up shopping baskets lent by local businesses for the weekend event, under-standing that each piece, even though desired for its functional or decorative value, is a one-of-a-kind work of art. In short, if you hesitate, that perfect indigo blue and cream sauce bowl by Martha Legg of Mud Puddle Pottery may not be there five minutes later. Potters browsed, admiring each other’s offerings as well as explaining their own techniques and inspirations to friends and to people there just to see what all the excitement was about. Prices ranged from $5 to more than $100 per piece.

The purpose of the Blue Ridge Potters Guild is to promote the craft of pottery to their mem-bers and the public through programs, exhibits, educational outreach and shows such as this one. Nan Fooks, Guild mem-bership chairman, takes classes at the Brambleton Center in Ro-anoke County, the largest public

pottery studio in the area, she was enthusiastically sharing her love for the potter’s craft with people of all ages and interests that were drawn to her booth stocked with her lovely signa-ture moss green pieces.

Guild member Mary Tous-man, a talented artist and writer as well as a potter, invited visi-tors to express their own artis-tic response to her imaginative works of clay sculpture, includ-ing decorative clay masks, hand-painted herb bowls and candle holders in the form of bee hives with bee-body handles.

The sale of pottery contin-ued on Saturday and Sunday and featured demos that let the

public see pottery techniques including hand-thrown, hand-built, sculpted clay art. For children there were many more “hands-on” activities.

The smiling new owners of Guild member pottery items showcase the success of the Blue Ridge Potters Guild motto: “To Share Knowledge and Appre-ciation of Ceramics.” To be sure, pottery is a craft that is gaining attention and a devoted follow-ing among the arts in the Roa-noke area.

Blue Ridge Potters Guild Show & Sale

By Gail Tansill Lambertinfo@newsroanoke.com

Photo by Gail Tansill Lambert

Blue Ridge Potters Guild member Mary Tousman with her display of clay sculpture.

“I’m overextended,” said Jef-frey A. Marks, president and general manager of WDBJ 7. You would expect that from the man who has just taken on the presidency of the Opera Roanoke board. Marks is also the current campaign chair for United Way of Roanoke. But no sooner did he say that but added, “not really overextend-ed. I’m having a lot of fun. And I couldn’t do it if not for a great team at WDBJ. A television sta-tion has a responsibility to be a great force in the community. I’m not the only one at WDBJ who volunteers for United Way and at member organizations.”

Marks, a Minnesota native, worked as a radio reporter, TV news producer, news director, and now general manager, at various stations. “I never tried to come to Roanoke. I was al-ready with the company that owns the station, so when Bob Lee opted to retire, they asked me to come here and fill his shoes, on July 1, 2007. I love it here.”

When discovering that Roa-noke has a thriving opera com-pany, he rejoiced. “My father didn’t get me interested, but it was a way we could communi-cate. On Saturday afternoons, for more than 70 years, my father listened [to the Metro-politan Opera on the radio].” Marks followed each opera with a telephone call, asking, “well Dad, did I enjoy that op-era?” Because his father knew so much about music, and knew the scores so well, the younger Marks learned a lot about opera.

Soon after he arrived here, he called the Opera Roanoke office. He met Steven White, the conductor, at a rehearsal. “It was the children’s sleep scene of Hansel and Gretel, and it was wonderful to see the way he conducted. I asked how I could help.” Marks soon ac-cepted an invitation to join the Opera Roanoke board. In June

Scott Williamson became the company’s general and artistic director. White, who has served as artistic director for the last several years, will remain as artistic advisor and principal guest conductor.

With the advent of live televised high-definition broadcasts of the Metropoli-tan Opera from New York, he has jumped in this fall to help Virginia Western host them at the Whitman Auditorium. He ushered for the first opera broadcast last weekend and the entire opera board will take turns ushering at others. He wants to do “anything we can to keep this art form alive and vibrant here.”

Along with that, as campaign chair of Roanoke’s United Way, he has responsibility for all of the volunteers who do work-place campaigns, and for plan-ning events that draw attention to United Way. He noted that the office staff at United Way contributes as well, even as they work with area companies on their campaigns.

A special challenge this year comes from maintaining the annual contribution amount, normally about six million dol-lars a year. Per capita giving has been going up but overall par-ticipation is going down. “Some of this is due to the economy,” said Marks, “but we have to make sure the message reaches as many people as possible, [so we can] work on poverty and the high school drop out rate.”

“We need to create the best possible system of family sup-port and instill in youngsters the value of education. We sup-port all sorts of education pro-grams, working in the schools.”

Marks and his wife love to travel, especially to see their grandchildren. As relative new-comers they’re trying to take in more of this area as well. Right now, the October 16 Opera Roanoke production of “Faust and Furious,” (8 p.m., Jefferson

Center) a collection of operas about the Faust legend, absorbs him.

Tickets are free for all full time students. For more information about Opera Roanoke and the upcoming Met broadcasts at Virginia Western (the next is “Boris Gudonov on Oct. 30), go to operaroanoke.org.

WDBJ7 Executive Has Many Interests - Including Opera

By Priscilla Richardsoninfo@newsroanoke.com

Beginning Oct. 27, the beauty, strength and balance of the human body will be revealed twice a week at the Art Be-yond Center Gal-lery at Center in the Square.

Certified yoga teacher Caryl Con-nolly, of Roanoke, explained that she is collaborating with Deborah Goglia, of the Art Beyond Center, to create a series of yoga classes in the gallery space in a pro-gram called The Art of Yoga.

"I just thought, how cool would it be to practice and teach yoga surrounded by the energy of the artists and all of their work," Connolly said of the opportunity to hold class in the gallery space.

Although the yoga classes are not an actual ex-hibit, there is an artistic parallel between art and yoga, Connolly said.

"There's a correlation between art and yoga. With yoga you're sculpting the human body into

a piece of your own art. Each pose is an individual ex-pression that will change every time you do it."

Connolly said she is hoping to register between eight and ten stu-dents for each of her classes, with all experience lev-els welcome."The great thing about yoga is you can always take each

pose, even an elementary pose suitable for begin-ners, and extend it further for advanced students," Connolly said.

Connolly said the classes are great for people who live and/or work in the downtown area who want to do something good for their body in a beautiful surrounding after work or on their lunch break.

For more information on The Art of Yoga visit: yogawithcaryl.com or call 540-588-0548.

Yoga Teacher Presents the Body as Art

Caryl Connolly demonstrates a “Warrior II” pose.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Glazed Bisque-It in down-town Roanoke supports the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer. For Oc-tober's Ladies Night, we will be donating $5 for every lady painting pottery to the Vera Bradley Foundation. Ladies Night is Friday October 15th, from 6 to 9 p.m.

In addition 10% of the cost of certain pieces of pottery in the studio will go to the Foun-dation for the rest of the year. At the recent Contemporary Ceramics Studio Association convention in September, the member studios raised $42,000 for the Vera Bradley Foundation. Glazed Bisque-It is proud to continue raising money for breast cancer re-search as a member studio.

Studio Supports Cancer Foundation

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Page 12 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 10/15/10 - 10/21/10 NewsRoanoke.com

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Writer To Discuss “Haunts” Of The Blue Ridge

Author and newspaper journalist Joe Tennis admits that he’s a bit less of a skep-tic about ghosts and apparitions since an incident in Patrick County that left him un-nerved. (See review that follows). That ex-perience did not stop Tennis (Bristol Herald Courier, Kingsport Times-News, etc.) from turning out several books on other worldly phenomena.

“I had a feeling … something else was there,” said Tennis of his own possible en-counter with the other side. “I was com-pletely paralyzed by this fear I had of some-thing else being in the home. There was a

complete heaviness inside that house.”His newest, “Haunts of Virginia’s Blue

Ridge Highlands” (History Press) will be the subject when Tennis appears at two local book signings next week: Barnes & Noble, Tanglewood, on Oct. 22 from 5 to 7 p.m. and at Ram’s Head Book Shop, Oct. 23, 1-3 p.m.

Several of the incidents that were re-layed to him for the book take place in the Roanoke area, from the wispy woman of Roanoke College (who haunted a long gone building once used by the school) to the ghost of Mrs. Figgat, who haunted her old

home in Fincastle. In his slim book, Tennis relays ghost sto-

ries at venues that roughly follow the path of the Crooked Road music trail, from Rocky Mount to the Cumberland Gap and Critz. “I took a very detached view throughout the book,” said Tennis, acknowledging that some of the stories are old folk tales.

Tennis wants readers to make up their own minds about what they might believe regarding ghosts and apparitions. “I want people to say hey, there just may be some things we can’t explain ... that there are some mysteries in this world … that science can’t explain.”

"Haunts" marks Tennis's first new book in two years. His others include "Beach to Bluegrass," and a small volume called "The Marble and Other Ghost Tales of Tennessee and Virginia" (Backyard Books). - By Gene Marrano

Review: Joe Tennis has produced an in-teresting collection of Southwest Virginia ghost stories, Haunts of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Highlands, just in time for Halloween.

Tennis, scouring back-roads, the ac-counts of storytellers and old histories, has collected a bunch of legends, first-person accounts and newspaper stories from coun-ty seats, old houses and any place he could find a ghost tale. One of the best is the “ap-parition in white,” captured in a photograph at Avenel in Bedford. There was also a sales-man said to be lost in “Murder Hole” in Craig County.

The writer had his own scary experience while stopping for the night at the Reynolds Homestead in Patrick County. He was con-vinced that “some presence” was behind his bedroom door but he found nothing. Ten-nis lays out the stories and lets readers draw their own conclusions about the reality of these accounts. He packs 36 ghost stories in this 109-page book. - By George Kegley

Photos by Joe Tennis

The historic "Figgat House" of Fincastle in Botetourt County is not only believed to be haunted, it's also a regular stop on the town's annual Halloween tour. The story "Figgats of Fincastle" is featured in Joe Tennis's new "Haunts of Virginia's Blue Ridge Highlands."

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The Melrose/Rugby Neigh-borhood Forum in Northwest Roanoke bills itself as “The Community That Cares.” Every year the association, established in 1989, hosts a number of events at the building it owns at 1730 Orange Avenue NW, and at other locations throughout the community.

One of those events took place last Friday, with the annual Fish Fry, a fundraiser for the Forum. It’s been taking place for about a decade; president Estelle Mc-Cadden said that in addition to local residents, Roanoke politi-cians, public safety officers and other public officials usually stop by to pick up $5 fish dinners to support the group’s efforts.

“It’s really city-supported,” said McCadden, a retired edu-cator and a former Roanoke City Citizen of the Year. “They come and they mingle with the neighbors.” Most eat their fish fry, available with cole slaw or

chips, at the Forum headquar-ters. “It makes for good relation-ships [with] the neighborhood folk,” McCadden noted. Her son Mac is a former City Council member. In most years the City Manager, and the Mayor, etc. are in attendance.

About 70 people are on the Melrose/Rugby Neighborhood Forum roster; around 30 are ac-tive. The group meets monthly, tackling issues like neighbor-hood beautification, local crime, the renovation of historic land-marks and they publish a peri-odic newsletter.

The annual fish fry was just another chance to spread the word about the Forum’s good work, and to raise a little cash. After all, said McCadden, “we’ve got to keep it going. You’ve got to have money.”

Fish Fry A Chance To Bring Community Closer

Photo by Gene Marrano

(L-R) Elta Mae Wilson, Estelle McCadden, Margaret Barbour and Virgie Craighead prepare fish dinners.

By Gene Marranogmarrano@cox.net