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The Roanoke Star-SentinelNewsRoanoke.comnovember 25 - December 1, 2011 Community | news | Per spect ive

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The Roanoke Women’s Foundation (RWF), a component fund of Foundation for Roanoke Valley, has announced the recipients of its grant awards, the largest to-tal given to date.

The latest grants, a total of $242,000, awarded at a lun-cheon held at the Patrick Henry on November 18th, brings to $1,244,000 the total in grants funded since the or-ganization’s inception in 2004.

“Despite a tough economy, The Roa-noke Women’s Foundation reached a milestone this year with 121 members, an all time high for us” says Ginny Jar-rett, co-founder of the RWF. Jarrett and co-founder Kandy El-liott established the RWF as a way for women in the Roa-noke and New River Valleys to pool their philanthropic goals and resources in order to make significant gifts to the community.

“Ginny and Kandy’s original vision for RWF has played out in a truly re-markable and exciting way, and the in-credible growth in RWF members over

time is a real testa-ment to the commu-nity’s generosity and desire to make our region an even better place to live,” added Alan Ronk, executive director of Founda-tion for Roanoke Val-ley.

Now in its seventh year, RWF has funded 26 organizations and programs. This year, 46 organizations applied for funding from the RWF. Through a rigorous grant making process, that number was narrowed to a group that was presented to the membership for their vote. Based on those results, the following grants were awarded in the 2011 grant cycle:

$100,000 to Roanoke Val-ley Greenway Commission to support its “Bridging the Gap” campaign to provide

for the construction of a 4.1 mile un-funded section of the greenway located between Bridge Street in Roanoke City and Rotary Park in Salem. The goal is to have this sec-tion completed by the end of

> CONTINUEDP2: Grant

Knights Win State Title

Cave Spring’s season of dreams came to fruition Saturday evening as the Knights overpowered Jame-stown 3-0 to capture the Group AA state volleyball championship at the Virginia Commonwealth

University Siegel Center in Richmond.The Knights parlayed the perfect Final-Four as Cave Spring defeated four-time AA defending state champs

Loudoun County 3-1 on Friday night, before returning Saturday to sweep Jamestown in dominating fash-ion.

Cave Spring’s five seniors, Shannon Craighead, Morgan Shannon, Kelsey Sine, Lauren Sledd and Kelli Long had set the bar high from the first day of practice- anything less than a state championship would be unacceptable. The Knights proved they

Grandin Parade Kicks Off The Holiday Season

One of the traditional kickoffs to the holiday season, the annual Grandin Village Holiday Children’s Parade drew thousands of spectators – and participants – on a sunny and mild Saturday last weekend. The Patrick Henry High School marching band and the Air Force Junior ROTC provided some of the pomp and circumstance during the parade, which featured everything from neighbors wheeling their kids down the street in little red wagons to members of Roanoke City Council (Mayor David Bowers, Anita Price and Sherman Lea were on hand) and Santa Claus, who always arrives at the end of the parade on a hook and ladder truck courtesy of the Roanoke City Fire/EMS.

The annual Holiday event, sponsored by the Grandin Village Business Associa-tion, also draws visitors that may not other-wise venture out to the Grandin Village, help-

[Philanthropy]

City Properties have Firm Renovation Commitments

The 56-year-old YMCA located at Church and 5th Street came back on the Market after Anthony Smith failed to close the deal on reno-vations by the January 31, 2011 deadline.

B-MAT Homes, Inc., a Richmond Va. based builder will now pay the city $225,000 up front with an attached $425,000 performance secu-rity guarantee. Scott will have 160 days to per-form due diligence on the 52,000 square foot building. The assessed value of the property is $971,500.

According to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) B-MAT Homes, Inc. oper-ates as 425 Church Avenue LLC and Church and Campbell LLC. Ricky Scott is president of B-MAT Homes, Inc.

They will have two years to complete the project following closing on the property and city’s approval of B-MAT’s plans. The plan calls for 8500 square feet of commercial space and 38 apartment units. They will also apply for Earth-Craft Virginia Multifamily Certification.

Scott and Ascension Horchler have returned to purchase the Buena Vista mansion in South-east’s Jackson Park for $30,000. Unable to sell their home in Midlothian the Horchlers and the city abandoned the contract in July. The earlier contract had the Horchlers paying $75,000 for the 3-acre historic property. That contact was subject to the sale of their Richmond home, This new contract has no such provision.

Alison Blanton, Roanoke Valley Preserva-

[City Gov’t]

LewisGale Regional Health System (LGRHS) announced this week that it has reached a new provider agreement with Carilion Clinic to be a participat-ing provider in its Medicare Advantage plans. The agreement gives enrollees full access to all LewisGale facilities and physicians, effective January 1, 2012.

“We are very pleased that Carilion has asked us to participate in its Medicare Advantage plans,” said Victor Giova-netti, president of LewisGale Regional Health System. “As our presence in the

marketplace has grown and our health system has been recognized locally and nationally for providing exceptional care, an increasing number of people want an insurance plan that allows them access to our physicians and hospitals.”

The new provider agree-ment covers inpatient, outpatient, and primary care services at all four hospi-tals—LewisGale Medical Center, Lewis-Gale Hospital Montgomery, LewisGale Hospital Pulaski, and LewisGale Hospi-

tal Alleghany as well as eight outpatient centers and 135 employed physicians.

The new agreements with Carilion and recently-announced Humana plan,

along with four other Medi-care Advantage companies that LewisGale is participat-ing in, gives 90 percent of

the population enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans access to the health system’s facilities and physicians.

While LewisGale employed physi-cians are automatically part of the new

agreements with Carilion Clinic and Humana, the health system’s 500 in-dependent physicians – making up the majority of LewisGale Hospitals’ medi-cal staffs – will also be invited to partici-pate in the new agreements, according to Humana and Carilion.

“This is a ‘win-win-win’ for everyone – the insurance companies and health-care providers, but, most importantly, it’s providing the best option for our community,” says Giovanetti.

LewisGale Signs New Agreement With Carilion Clinic

Photo by Gene Marrano

The Patrick Henry High School marching band parades down Grandin Road.

> CONTINUED P8: Knights

Roanoke Women’s Foundation Announces Grant Recipients

> CONTINUED P2: Parade

[Volleyball Champions]

Photo by Bill Turner

The 2011 Group AA Virginia State Volleyball Champion Cave Spring Knights.

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> CONTINUED P2: Properties

[Healthcare]

| The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 11/25/11 -12/1/11 newsRoanoke.com

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ing to fill shops and restaurants. It’s also a kickoff to the holiday shopping season, which gets into full gear this weekend with “Black Friday.”

Wal-Mart will actually kick off Black Friday on Thursday night, giving Thanksgiving diners an excuse to go walk off their holiday meals. Economic forecasters have been sending out mixed signals about the strength of retail shopping sales this season, worrying many lo-cal stores that base their liveli-hood on strong holiday season activity.

Downtown Roanoke Inc.,

the organization that promotes businesses downtown and manages the Farmer’s Market, is making a heavy push for people to shop at small retailers in the area. DRI is even telling men, via radio spots, that they can celebrate the purchases made for the “special ladies” in their lives at one of the restaurants downtown that carry football games on big screen TV’s.

Downtown Roanoke Inc.’s Dickens of a Christmas kicks off on December 2 and runs for three consecutive Friday nights. Dec. 2 features the City of Roa-noke Christmas tree lighting;

there’s a Christmas parade on Dec. 9 and a pet costume con-test on the 16th. Strolling carol-ers in Victorian era costumes, horse drawn carriage rides and all types of goodies offered for sale are all a part of Dickens of a Christmas, which is sponsored by SunTrust.

The Farmer’s Market and many downtown businesses stay open for Dickens and peo-ple often pick up a wreath or other Christmas-related items while taking in the festivities. The Dec. 2 debut for Dickens of a Christmas also coincides with

Art By Night this year (now on Friday nights) and Betty Branch’s invitation-only sneak peek inside her sculpture studio on Warehouse Row, which she only opens to the public once a year.

The Grandin Holiday Chil-dren’s Parade is unique in that no pre-registration is required – you just need to show up by 10:30 Saturday morning in or-der to join the fun. Nonetheless many groups plan well ahead to be there, and Grandin area businesses like Pop’s Ice Cream, Local Roots, the Natural Foods Co-op and even 7-11 were rep-resented.

Make no mistake about it, however - the arrival of Santa Claus on the fire truck at the end is enough to remind people that the parade is all about ring-ing in the start of the Christmas holiday season.

See downtownroanoke.org for more about Dickens of a Christ-mas.

By Gene [email protected]

> Properties From page 1

> Parade From page 1


Pop’s Ice Cream always brings coupons and entertaining char-acters to the lively Grandin Village Holiday Parade.


Santa Claus arrives!

2013. Once this section is built, the Roa-noke Valley will have 18.3 miles of unin-terrupted greenway along the Roanoke River in the center of the Roanoke Valley, making it one of the longest urban green-ways in the eastern United States.

$50,000 to The Salvation Army, for Turning Point, the only domestic violence shelter in the Roanoke Valley. Funds will be used to help meet the costs for case manager and children’s coordinator posi-tions, food and utilities as funding sourc-es have been reduced due to budget cuts in federal, state and local government. Having served the area for over 20 years, Turning Point provides safe housing and shelter for more than 250 women and children each year. It also serves more than 500 callers to its crisis hotline.

$32,000 to Roanoke Area Ministries (RAM), which has been feeding nutritious noon-time meals to impoverished and low income citizens in the Roanoke Val-ley since 1987. The grant from the RWF will replace donated and used equipment with new, commercial grade equipment in the RAM House kitchen. The goal is to help improve efficiency of the kitchen op-eration as well as improve the quality of

the meals that are served. Last year, over 45,000 lunches were served to 2,900 un-duplicated persons, including children.

$30,000 to Craig County Youth & Community Services for the Craig Coun-ty Recreation and Conservation Associa-tion’s “Field of Dreams”, a multipurpose outdoor recreation complex including accessible fields for sporting events and physical activity. Currently, Craig Coun-ty has no public recreation complex. This complex will be ideally situated to serve the school age populations as the “Field” will be in walking distance of the schools. In 2009, Craig County had the second highest level of poverty (18.1%) and the highest adult obesity rate in Virginia (33.9% compared to the state average of 25.5%). The goal of the grant is to effect change in the community by encouraging healthy lifestyles and providing alterna-tives to dangerous and unhealthy behav-iors.

$30,000 to West End Center to jump start its West End Leaders program. Us-ing a program titled “Leadership for the 21st Century” (a curriculum developed by the Virginia Department of Educa-tion), funds from the RWF will provide

program development and marketing support. The program helps children develop leadership skills and practices and to apply those skills through com-munity service activities. Although they are among the most disadvantaged in the Roanoke Valley, West End Center’s children have demonstrated impressive achievement. Since 2000, the West End Center children have graduated at the rate of 83%, significantly higher than those of Roanoke City.

The Roanoke Women’s Foundation is open to any woman who makes the com-mitment to support the RWF for at least three years at a level of $2,100 per year. Members have no other obligation than to fulfill the annual contribution and to participate in the voting process deter-mining the recipients of the pooled fund grants.

For more information, visit www.roa-nokewomensfoundation.org or Foundation for Roanoke Valley’s website www.founda-tionforroanokevalley.org. Foundation for Roanoke Valley currently administers over 260 named endowment funds on behalf of the community.

> Grant From page 1

tions Foundation told council Monday evening that the Buena Vista mansion was a very important historic landmark. The mansion dates back to the mid-1800s and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Virginia Landmarks Register.

We regret the city was unable to maintain it she said. Blanton was glad that it would be restored keeping in mind its original design. She requested that a preservation easement be placed on the property for the first 10 years and asked that the proceeds from the sale be invested in maintenance for the city’s other neglected historic landmarks.

Assistant city manager Brian Townsend named five restrictive covenants that were part of the sale to protect its historic designa-tion. Saying only the owner of the property can request a preservation easement.

The mansion once renovated will serve as a single-family residence for the Horchler family. Previously they had planned to offer the ballroom for events but have abandoned that use. The property can never be demol-ished or subdivided in whole or in part with-

out the city’s approval.The renovation is estimated to cost

$330,000. Roanoke City Council voted unanimously to approve the sale of the properties.

The Roanoke Ice building in Wasena was rezoned for mixed-use development. Ed Walker will renovate it into apartments on the upper floors with commercial on the first floor.

In other business: After extensive discus-sion at the 2:00 p.m. meeting and after the addition of an amendment by Councilman Ray Ferris council voted on a resolution ask-ing the state to retain the ban on uranium mining. Ferris’ amendment added language watering down the resolution. It provided an “if the Virginia Uranium study” found it to be unsafe and also asked that it not be con-sidered in the 2012 session. Former Council member Rupert Cutler gave extensive dia-logue lobbying for the firmer resolution.

In the end Councilman Sherman Lea cast the only dissenting vote on the softened resolution.

Cutler in an email said, “I did my best to show that there is no such thing as safe uranium mining in Virginia.” Advocates for keeping the ban “will keep after it and try to get Council to clarify and strengthen its resolution next month,” he said.

Photo by Valerie Garner

The 56-year-old YMCA building located on Church and 5th Street.

By valerie [email protected]

newsRoanoke.com 11/25/11- 12/1/11 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |

New Officers Elected for Republican Women's Club

The Roanoke Valley Repub-lican Women held their new Officer Installation Ceremony Tuesday night at Hunting Hills Country Club. Officers for the 2012 year are President – Rox-Anne Christley, 1st Vice Presi-dent – Mildred Scott, 2nd Vice President – Gerry McGrath, Corresponding Secretary – Toni Harris, Recording Secretary - Ashley Suetterlein, Treasurer – Maggie Wood. Each officer will serve for a term of one year.

By Carla M. [email protected]

It’s Not A Roundabout But Traffic Flows Smoothly At New Intersection

City to Take Over Management of Gallop 4 the Greenways

The sixth annual Gallop 4 the Greenways will take place on May 12, 2012, under the leadership of Roanoke Parks and Recreation. The event was originally created by Valley Forward in 2006 as a way to support the growing network of pedestrian and bicycle trails in Roanoke. Valley Forward stated, "We are very excited for Roanoke Parks and Recreation to take over Gallop 4 the Greenways. The event has been a suc-cess because of the support of the city, volunteers, race participants, and local busi-nesses. However, the event has gotten so big that Val-ley Forward and Pathfinders for Greenways can no longer

handle organizing it."With more than $120,000

raised in the past five years, the Roanoke Parks and Rec-reation Department says they plan to keep the Gallop going strong for many years to come. In 2012, Gallop funds will go to the Bridge the Gap campaign to finish

the Roanoke River Greenway between Salem and Roanoke for a continuous 18 miles of trail.

For more information, con-tact Recreation Specialist Joe Hanning at 853-1276.

It took seven years of negotiations with city councils, administrators, the airport commission, VDOT, city engineers, and local merchants but fi-nally there is relief for motorists navigating oddly constructed access roads out of Town Square Shopping Center and into the Roanoke Regional Airport.

After all the wrangling between the various en-tities it took less than a year for Roanoke’s Branch and Associates to complete the intersection. The process involved giving a little here and a little there and ultimately all parties gave a little land and money including Sam’s, Kroger’s and Kimco Realty.

Originally the intersection was slated to be a roundabout. On May 4, 2009 City Council was ready to give the go-ahead for a “roundabout.” Then it stalled with the realization that connect-ing one way to Aviation Drive would require clo-sure of Thirlane Road. The closing of Thirlane was quickly dismissed by local businesses.

But the Airport Commission kept pushing for a two-lane roundabout. Mark Jamison, the city’s traffic engineer thought residents who were not accustom to a roundabout would be confused. He feared traffic would queue up back into Sam’s and Kroger’s with everyone using the outside lane for fear of missing one of five exits.

In a September 2008 joint meeting with the Airport Commission members “Fuzzy” Minnix said, “don’t sell the Virginia drivers short … we’re as smart as the French, aren’t we?”

This brought to mind a scene from the movie European Vacation where Clark Griswald drives his family endlessly around England’s busy Lam-beth Bridge roundabout for hours, unable to ma-neuver his way out.

The Airport Commission in 2008 brought in a roundabout consultant trying to sell the idea while promoting its safety aspect. An attractive land-scaped roundabout for Roanoke visitors would be an added bonus. Chairman Jay Turner, Jr. stressed that the airport was the gateway to Roanoke and needed to be “easy to use, easily marked, and aes-thetically pleasing.”

Granger MacFarlane haggled with then City Manager Darlene Burcham asking her “what are you expecting … money or land?” Burcham replied, “whatever you are willing to put on the table.”

On Monday all the years of indecision were over. “The nice thing about this project is that it is funded from a lot of different sources … the peo-ple that are affected want it,” said Salem’s VDOT

district administrator, Richard Caywood. The total cost of the project was $2 million with

$1,032,000 coming from VDOT. The city’s por-tion of the cost was $722,000. Kroger’s, Sam’s and the airport supplied the rest.

Caywood explained that from a common-sense standpoint the intersection is not only fixing the airport entrance and exit from Town Square but it is solving the traffic backup at Rutgers onto Her-shberger and the congested ramp where motorists try to make a left to get to Valley View Mall. It is a two for one traffic solution.

“The whole area circulates better,” he said.This is especially true during the holidays. This

holiday will be different if people remember that the new intersection is there. Traffic was heavy at the intersection during Monday’s press confer-ence as Mayor David Bowers spoke over motor noise while standing in the overflow airport park-ing lot.

After the press conference Caywood said that the Elm Avenue exit redesign would start with some fieldwork at the end of 2012. They have the “design/build” firm selected from three finalists but he was not ready to announce the success-ful bidder. Actual construction of the $40 to $50 million part stimulus funded project won’t begin until 2013.

At the same time construction will begin on the Valley View Interchange. “These two projects will definitely overlap,” said Caywood. There will be some impact to traffic flow especially as the ramps at Hershberger Road are connected to the new ramps at Valley View that will create four lanes between the two interchanges. “There are not many interchanges around that connect like this,” said Caywood.

Photo by Valerie Garner

New intersection turning left into the airport.

Service-Minded Roanoke Student Gives to New Orleans

Julia Childers of Roanoke is among 30 people from James Madison University in Harrison-burg, who are heading to destinations through-out the United States to spend Thanksgiving Break volunteering. Instead of returning home to their families and celebrating over turkey and mashed potatoes, students will serve hot meals to the homeless, build affordable housing and spend time with patients living with HIV/AIDS. Three Alternative Thanksgiving Break trips planned by students will take place in Georgia and Louisiana during JMU's Nov. 19-26 break.

JMU's award-winning Alternative Break Pro-gram provides learning opportunities for stu-dents outside of the classroom where they focus on social issues by interacting with a local non-profit, living simply and reflecting on the critical issues faced by the people they serve.

Childers is a part of a 10-member team work-ing at Project Lazarus, a New Orleans-based organization that works to provide long-term care for HIV/AIDS patients in a home-like en-vironment. During the trip, students will spend one-on-one time with patients and assist when needed throughout the facility.

"We are looking forward to visiting Project Lazarus and putting both faces and personalities to the HIV/AIDS disease," said Childers, senior

health sciences major. "It's important to realize every statistic we hear about the disease corre-lates to an individual, such as the ones we will meet in New Orleans. We can't wait to go and to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with a 'new' family."

Students pay $250 to participate in the Atlanta trip. Fundraising projects led by the students and advisors help with some of the costs of the trips.

From the first Alternative Spring Break in 1992, the JMU program has grown to encom-pass alternative break trips at Thanksgiving, Spring Break and May Break. The JMU pro-gram is the Break Away National Program of the Year for 2010 in recognition of the university's commitment to active citizenship. The program earned the same award in 1999 from Break Away, a national nonprofit organization that supports the development of quality alternative break programs at colleges and other nonprofit organizations.

For information about JMU's Alternative Break Program, including an interactive map showcas-ing past service trips, and Community Service-Learning, check http://www.jmu.edu/service/.

By valerie [email protected] Send pictures,

announcements and story ideas to

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PersPective | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 11/25/11 -12/1/11 newsRoanoke.com

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A Final Reflection on My Dear RockOn the 4th of May,

the waters took my beloved dog Rock

Home. I wrote a short series of columns about his passing and my grieving but I still have some final thoughts to share. I no longer cry over him; I trust he knows that’s just the normal course of grief, not to be confused with not missing him each day. In the beginning Sa-brina sometimes set out one bowl too many at dinner time. She would call for Rock, then, re-membering, look down and sadly pick up the no-longer-necessary bowl.

Is he safe; happy? This is the thing I need to know; I not only need to believe he is, but to know, like I know the Earth is round, like I know gravity is a physical law; but such certainty is not possible temporally. This pud-ding is too thick for my spoon.

I typically finish each day in a room towards the rear of the house; a large area lit only by a single lamp as I read or watch the news. To my left, is a portrait of my boy, his crossed paws philo-sophically resting on the uphol-stered arm-rest where I often sit. The portrait, painted by lo-

cal artist Carol Nelms, commis-sioned by my Sabrina, captures Rock’s somber mood perfectly. It is titled, “My Master’s Chair.”

Through the dimness in that room, my boy watches me, or keeps watch over me; not like God does, but as he is able. Al-though I know it’s just oil and

canvass, perhaps this portrait also sends forth an octave my ears are not suited to hear suggested in ‘The Rainbow Bridge.’ [Be-low.] Be it true or be it delusion, it is neverthe-less comforting. I fully realize that wanting with all your heart for a thing to be true does

not make it so. And yet, it could be granted…

THE RAINBOW BRIDGEThere is a bridge connecting

Heaven and Earth. It is called the Rainbow Bridge because of its many colors. When our beloved pets die, they journey to this idyl-lic spot. There are meadows and hills enough for all to frolic freely and plenty of food, water and sunshine. Each and every animal is warm and comfortable.

Those pets that have been ill or aged are restored to health and vigor. Those who are hurt or maimed are made whole and

strong. Each is just as we remem-ber in our dreams of days and times gone by. Our pets are happy and content at Rainbow Bridge, except for one small thing. They are not with their special person who loved them on earth.

So each day they run and play, but the day comes when one sud-denly stops, and looks into the distance. Bright eyes are intent, an eager body begins to quiver. Sud-denly, running from the group, flying over the green grass, legs are going faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and you and your special friend come to-gether in joyous reunion. Happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head; and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life, but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together, never again to be separated.

- Author unknownSo I ask again, is this how

it truly is or just the hoping-against-hope of the aching hearts of those of us who have lost be-loved pets? I spoke to a friend the other day who, knowing I had had other pets before, asked, “So why did you love Rock so much?” Because love is love, two-legged or four; feathered or furred love is love; only rarely to be understood. But, this one thing is true: when my dying day comes, and I arrive on the other side, if my Rock is not there, I’ll know for a certainty that I’ve ended up somewhere other than Heaven…

Look for Lucky’s books locally and on-line: The Oath of Hippo-crates; The Cotillian; A Journey Long Delayed.

Talk About Rising Out of The Rubble! I remember when this

town really meant some-thing. Mr. Henry Ford

was busy making his cars, and lots of folks were getting pretty rich. They all needed a nice place to shop, so Mr. Hudson built that huge store down on Woodward Avenue way back in 1911. It grew and grew un-til it was 2 million square feet. Store space, restaurants, offices, the whole thing. They had a Thanksgiving parade two years

before Macy's did. They flew the world's largest American flag out front, that's now in the Smithsonian. And on all four sides, porcelain-covered copper letters flashed "HUDSONS" in red neon. Beautiful.

But they needed even more room. So they built a bunch of us warehouses over on Brush Street, to hold all the goods. We stood here for a half-century, watching a proud city thrive. I remember Gordie Howe bringing us the Stanley Cup in 1952 (we got more of those than any other American team); the Lions winning 3 NFL Cham-pionships in the 50's; and the Tigers winning the 1968 Series. People around the world drove our cars, and blared Diana Ross out of the speakers.

Unfortunately, it didn't last. Times got hard and people started moving out. At night

the streets grew dangerous. People started getting angry about war, and about skin color. A scuffle broke out over on 12th Street that turned into the worst American riot in 100 years.

7000 people arrested, almost 100 killed and 2000 injured. My buddies and I watched as 1700 of our fellow buildings were looted and 1400 were burned to the ground. After that, things just kept getting worse, and

people kept leaving. They demolished Mr. Hudson's beau-

tiful store in 1998. Most of the warehouses followed soon after, until only two of us were left. In 2000, we heard wrecking crews coming up Brush Street to take us down...

But then something strange happened. Mr. William Clay Ford (Henry's great-great-grandson) saved me. His crew opened me up, cleaned me out,

and gave me new windows. And then they did something even more amazing: they put me right into a new football stadium. They laid a new field just north of me, and built the new place for the Lions to play. They turned me into offices and restaurants, and on the side fac-ing the field, they put in private rooms for wealthy folks to eat, drink, and watch the game. To-day, as you enter Ford Field, you can see me. I'm the whole south side of the stadium, four glori-ous levels of club seating. Imag-ine that, me - a lowly Hudson's merchandise warehouse - host-ing Detroit's high-and-mighty every Sunday!

And, would you believe it? Our Lions are having a respect-able season at 7-3. I do believe I'm the luckiest warehouse in America!

Rod, Reel and LawyerDargan Coggeshall’s legal troubles began

in June 2010, when he and his brother-in-law, Frank Garden, decided to fish on

the Jackson River near the home of Dr. John Fel-denzer, a surgeon from Roanoke. Matt Sponaugle, the owner of a housing development called River’s Edge, who had sold the riverfront property to the Feldenzers, insisted that the anglers leave that sec-tion of the river immediately. He pointed to the “no trespassing” signs posted on the banks of both sides of the river that indicated that neither fishing nor wading was allowed there. Coggeshall, who had fished that part of the Jackson for years prior to the home being built, countered that his map, issued by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF), listed this section of the Jackson River as public property.

Eventually Sponaugle called for an Allegheny County deputy sheriff to check the anglers’ fishing licenses. The deputy found that their licenses were in order and, because the state said that they had a right to be there, refused to arrest them. Unde-terred, Sponaugle tried to sue the anglers in crimi-nal court; the case was dropped, however, because the court found the ownership of the river in dis-pute. Now Feldenzer and Sponaugle are suing the anglers in civil court to the tune of $10,000 apiece for trespassing.

Sponaugle contends that he has a crown grant, a deed issued by the Crown of England, that gives him title to the land, including the bottom of the river. If you’re not a Virginian, this probably sounds spurious. But in 1996 the Virginia Su-preme Court, in a case called Kraft v. Burr, upheld the exclusive crown grant land and water rights of a particular group of Jackson River landown-ers. Sponaugle was not one of the Kraft v. Burr landowners and his land is not a part of the re-stricted “crown grant section” of the Jackson, but he asserts the same rights to the property and in-sists that the state is being negligent in refusing to prosecute “trespassers.”

Unbeknownst to them when they headed out for a peaceful day of fishing on the Jackson, our two hapless anglers had stepped into what was already a hornet’s nest. In June 2009, the VDGIF had informed Sponaugle by letter that his posted signs on this milelong stretch of the Jackson were illegal, the Kraft v. Burr decision having no bear-ing on his property. Because the VDGIF does not have the authority to actually take the signs down, confusion ensued, creating dire financial conse-

quences for Coggeshall and Garden, who were re-lying on VDGIF provided maps for their outing.

Where private property rights and public ac-cess and usage rights conflict, we often witness fireworks. The landowners in this case clearly be-lieve that they have an exclusive claim, and they might even be correct. But instead of petitioning the state and following proper channels, onerous as they often are, to recognize their claim to the river bottom, they have opted to sue individual anglers. If the anglers lose their case, or run out of money to defend themselves, which is a very real possibility, it really won’t matter whether the land-owners have exclusive rights to the property or not: Anglers will flee the Jackson River altogether just to stay out of court.

Outdoorsmen everywhere might wonder where the Virginia Attorney General’s Office is in all of this. According to a letter released by the AG’s of-fice, “This is a civil trespassing case between pri-vate parties, and the Commonwealth of Virginia generally does not intervene in disputes between private parties.”

Now, I’m no lawyer, and I am a staunch believer in private property rights, but the fact remains that these sportsmen were fishing in that section of the Jackson River because state-printed materials told them they could do so. Where private property rights are violated, Virginians expect authorities to protect them. Similarly, where public property access and usage rights are violated, we expect the authorities to defend them.

Civil or not, North South Development v. Gar-den, is a critical case with implications for a num-ber of Virginia waterways. The embattled anglers told me that they have already incurred $40,000 worth of legal bills defending themselves against the charge of trespassing on property that the commonwealth says is public. Concerned sports-men across the Old Dominion have set up a web-site to help defray the costs of their defense: www.virginiariversdefensefund.org.

Tourism dollars are crucial to Virginia’s econo-my, and yet state authorities are sending outdoor enthusiasts a curious message: We’ll sell you a li-cense and give you a map, but attorneys’ fees are on you. In other words, fish elsewhere.

Beau Beasley is a freelance writer and the au-thor of Fly Fishing Virginia: A No Nonsense Guide to Top Waters. Distributed by Bay Journal News Service

Lucky Garvin

Contact Lucky Garvin [email protected]

Mike Keeler

Contact Mike [email protected]

Local Crossword for 11/25/2011

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www.CrosswordWeaver.com

ACROSS

1 Heroic 5 Sixth sense 8 The local tub care business which

does everything from chip repairs to complete refinishing.

11 Music type 13 Canoe propeller 14 Be 15 Deer 16 Winter sport 17 Beige 18 Brew 20 Crash 22 Type of seasoning (2 wds.) 26 Bacon 27 Small ground plot 28 Measured 30 Traveler's aid 31 Diced 32 American sign language 35 Kinds 36 Healing plant 37 Association (abbr.) 39 Playing noisily 41 Equatorial 43 Doze 44 Pot 45 Lad 47 Adapted to a dry environment 51 Price sticker 52 Monkey 53 Steam room 54 Ship initials 55 Drug 56 Rive

DOWN

1 Move away 2 Legume 3 Large computer co. 4 Element 5 Aurora 6 Rice wine 7 Got ready 8 Asian nation 9 Hunt

10 Coin 12 But I do like sleeping in a ----. (from

Where the Wild Things Are) 19 Devour (2 wds.) 21 Spacecraft detachment 22 Metronome marking 23 Wing

24 Talk incessantly 25 Yarn 29 Subatomic particle 31 Faultfinding 32 Boxer Muhammad 33 Child 34 Limb 35 Teaspoon (abbr.) 36 Look 37 Tapestry 38 Tunes 40 Which local ice cremory is 'sweet

to the taste, smooth on the tongue, and yummy on the tummy'?

41 Skirt 42 Coffee and Tea shop open 7 days

a week on Grandin Rd. in Roanoke.

46 Berth 48 Regret 49 Hotel 50 Scoundrel

Star-Sentinel Crossword


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By Don WaterfieldFind the answers online: NewsRoanoke.com

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

PersPectivenewsRoanoke.com 11/25/11 -12/1/11 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |

The Preacher’s Corner - by Mark Graham

A Psalm for the Season

The Happy Chef - Gorilla Bread by Leigh Sackett

Recently Psalm 95 came around as part of our worship at the

congregation I serve. I love all 150 Psalms; but, truth be told, it’s only been recently that I’ve taken the necessary time to give these songs and prayers of the Bible their proper attention. It’s amazing what God has waiting for us when we do.

In Judeo/Christian use of the Psalms, Psalm 95 has long been beloved as a call to worship. “Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!” It doesn’t get any better than that as an invitation to set one’s mind and heart on the Lord. Psalm 95 also reminds us that God is our Maker and our Shepherd, for we are “the people of his pas-ture, and the sheep of his hand.” Here we learn that we are both handmade and hand-held by God, and that revelation alone is worth a study of the Psalms.

But suddenly, Psalm 95 takes a dark turn. Just like that, God warns us not to harden our hearts “as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilder-ness…” Four hundred years be-fore this Psalm came to be, the people of God rose up in the wilderness in complaint against

the Lord and Moses for a lack of water, as read in Exodus 17. Never mind that God had saved them from slavery, had shown them miracle after miracle, and had always provided for their needs. No, a deep complaining, quarreling spirit had pierced their hearts against the Lord, and their hearts became hard-ened against Him.

All those hundreds of years later, the Lord’s anger over their complaining still burned like hot bile in His mouth. Few things, it seems, triggers the righteous wrath of our God more than for His own people to say He hasn’t done enough for them.

So this sharp truth of Psalm 95 leads me to see these com-ing holidays in a new light. Yes, ‘tis the season to be merry. But more so, it’s the time to be grateful—grateful to the Lord for all that He has done for us, grateful to the point that if God never does another thing for us, He has done more than enough already. Gratitude is the best way to protect our hearts from a hardened spirit of complaint.

This week, take time to be very specific in developing an “atti-tude of gratitude.” Write down a list of blessings for which you are grateful to God. Tuck that

list in your wallet or purse and pull it out occasionally. Add to it over the days ahead. Soak your heart with gratitude, rejoicing in the love for you of your Maker and Shepherd.

Mark Graham is the Senior Pastor at St. John Lutheran Church in Roanoke. Visit them on the web at stjohnlutheran.org

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Home-Made Gifts From The HeartNot everyone will agree with me, but I

have always believed that home-made gifts are more meaningful than those

purchased at the mall or gift cards that leave the selection up to the recipient. Love and patience, time and talent are all required to choose and cre-ate just the right gift – a gift that is actually part of the person who created it.

When my children were small I encouraged each of them to make gifts for family members. Even before the stores displayed Christmas deco-rations (shortly after Halloween) I started plan-ning, reading craft books and women’s maga-zines, searching for ideas. Since I had preschool and kindergarten children at school, and sixth and seventh grad-ers in Sunday School, in addition to the three at home, I needed projects for sev-eral different age levels. My goal was for gifts that would be useful and attractive, which parents would welcome.

Christmas tree ornaments our chil-dren made through the years become more precious as time goes by. It’s amazing how Elmer’s glue, gold spray paint and glitter can transform recycled milk tops, stars cut from Styrofoam meat trays, and plastic lids from margarine, into attractive or-naments. Glue a picture of the giver in the center, print name and date on the back with a gold pen, and you have a unique decoration. These simple projects were easy and suitable for the younger children, although they required preparation by an adult.

Items found on nature walks, summer and fall, were saved to make Christmas presents. Shells from the beach became mobiles or soap dishes. Hemlock cones glued to brown paper rings made individual candle rings. A more ambitious candle ring consisted of a variety of seed pods and cones glued to a plywood ring. (Harry has always been willing to cut the wood we needed for more ad-vanced endeavors.)

When I organized a gift-making workshop for all age levels at church, one gift every child made for his/her parents was a jar of nine-bean-soup mix. Children of all ages could decorate a jar, scoop the beans to fill it and attach a recipe. This gift was such a hit with parents we decided to repeat it the following year. When we told the children, one girl

shouted, “Oh NO!” Her family had four children and had finally consumed last year’s gifts!

Many of my gifts have been made during the summer when fruits and vegetables were plentiful in our garden. Jellies and preserves and pickles are usually welcomed, as well as baked goods such as whole wheat bread, which few people make these days.

Early in our marriage, I learned an important lesson about the limitations of gift making. Each year I tried to get the most value for the money we had saved for Christmas. I enjoyed sewing and one year I decided to make robes for the three women

on my list. I found a simple pattern that included three sizes and purchased enough pale blue velour for three robes, matching blue satin for the trim, and the thread and interfacing that I would need.

That night I proceeded to cut the material, carefully pinning the pattern pieces, then placing the cut material in three neat piles. The following morn-

ing I had a sore throat, and as the day passed I felt worse. I set my sewing machine up in the living room, and

alternated sewing and stretching out on the sofa for two weeks. I had spent the money and couldn’t buy other gifts, so I had to finish those robes. For-tunately they turned out well and I didn’t tell the recipients what a struggle it was to make them.

As a result of this experience I vowed never again to overextend myself. I would limit my gift making to one person and rotate those on my gift list so all would eventually receive a home-made gift.

My children continued to make gifts for family members as they grew older and no longer needed my supervision. During her high school years, Kathy sewed shirts for her father and brothers and a blouse and pot holders for me. John is artistic and made pencil portraits of his parents and his children. His love of woodworking has produced a storage unit for CDs for his dad. I’ve written before about Harry’s soap carvings, and now that he has a farm, we get sausage and his home-made wild raspberry jam.

Home-made gifts come straight from the heart!

Contact Mary Jo [email protected]

Mary Jo Shannon

I was reminded by my wonderful friend Kath-erine that one of the great

joys of the Holiday season is baking. Of course, there are so many things that we all love to do during the Holiday season but often we don’t have enough time for half of them. Well, I am doing all my Christmas shop-ping early this year so that I am certain to make time for bak-ing.

This recipe would be great to give as a gift, make on Christmas morning or as a special treat for the kids before heading off to church on a Sunday morning to enjoy Christmas hymns.

This bread is from the fabu-lous Paula Deen and it sure is sweet and wonderful! With a name like Gorilla bread it must be an even bigger and better than monkey bread. A perfect ten!

1/2 cup granulated sugar 3 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese 2 (12-ounce) cans refrigerated biscuits (10 count)

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

-Preheat the oven to 350 de-grees F.

-Spray a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Mix the granulated sugar and cin-namon.

-In a saucepan, melt the but-ter and brown sugar over low heat, stirring well; set aside. -Cut the cream cheese into 20 equal cubes. Press the biscuits out with your fingers and sprin-kle each with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar. Place a cube of cream cheese in the center of each biscuit, wrapping and sealing the dough around the cream cheese.

-Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the nuts into the bottom of the bundt pan. Place half of the prepared biscuits in the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, pour half of the melted butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle on 1/2 cup of nuts.

-Layer the remaining biscuits on top, sprinkle with the re-maining cinnamon sugar, pour the remaining butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of nuts.

-Bake for 30 minutes. -Remove from the oven and

cool for 5 minutes. Place a plate on top and invert.

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Roanoke College Poll Measures Consumer Sentiment in VirginiaAs the holiday spending

season approaches, Virginians have weighed in on their opin-ion of the economy. The Roa-noke College Institute for Policy and Opinion Research (IPOR) surveyed 603 Virginians about their financial situation, general business conditions and their inclination for purchasing du-rable goods. Indexes of current conditions, consumer expecta-tions, and consumer sentiment were constructed. This is the first gauge of Virginia confidence, and it will be repeated in Febru-ary 2012.

Virginians Optimistic about the Future

The IPOR developed three indexes of consumer confidence in Virginia modeled after the University of Michigan’s widely publicized set of indexes mea-suring national consumer sen-timent. The Virginia Index of Current Conditions (VAICC) considers household financial situations compared to the past year and consumers’ willingness to purchase durable goods such as refrigerators and furniture. The Virginia Index of Consumer Expectations (VAICE) gauges household expectations of their finances and business conditions in the coming year. The Virginia Index of Consumer Sentiment (VAICS) is an aggregate measure of current conditions and future beliefs of Virginia households.

The November VAICC is 64, compared to the preliminary na-tional value of 76.6. This was the highest for the national number

since June, although the number is well off the 90-100 range sus-tained during the mild recession of 2001 and the 111.3 in the first quarter of 2007. The national number has not gone above 90 since January 2008. Specifically, 44% of Virginians felt they are worse off financially now than they were a year ago and 60% reported that they thought busi-ness conditions were worse to-day than they were a year ago.

The VAICE is 76, suggesting that households are optimistic that their financial situation and business conditions will improve over the next year. Nearly a third, (32%) of Virginians reported a belief that they would be better off financially a year from now. Comparably, the nation is less optimistic about the coming year. The national preliminary ICE is 56, although the national number considers expectations over the coming five years, rather than just one year from now.

The VAICS is 70, which is higher than the preliminary na-tional value of 64.2. The national preliminary values are based on a sample of 250 to 300 consum-ers. The final national November values will be released Novem-ber 23, 2011. Potential reasons for the greater optimism in Vir-ginia versus the nation include a statewide unemployment rate that is 2.5 points lower than the national rate of 9.0% and per capita income that is more than 10% higher than the national av-erage.

Optimism lower in Southside

and Southwest VirginiaThe economic situation var-

ies substantially across the state. The VAICC is lowest in South-west Virginia (55) and Southside (58), and highest in NOVA (73). Almost 59% of Southwest Vir-ginians reported being worse off financially today compared to a year ago. Residents of Southside Virginia demonstrate optimism about the coming year, report-ing a VAICE of 72, compared to 66 and 83 for Southwest and NOVA, respectively. Variations in consumer confidence reflect differences in regional economic outcomes. Unemployment rates are highest in Danville (9.5%, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sep-tember) and lowest in Charlot-tesville (5.4%, BLS, September), although optimism could be im-proving in Southside due to the considerable drop in unemploy-ment in that region in the past year (falling from 12.0% in the summer of 2010.)

Confidence and SpendingThe fourth quarter of the year

is typically a big time for re-tail sales. Additionally, holiday travel is anticipated to increase this year. As consumers feel more confident about the future of the economy, and travel more during the holidays, the quarter could be a plentiful harvest for Virginia businesses.

Interviewing for The Roanoke College Poll was conducted by The Institute for Policy and Opin-ion Research at Roanoke College in Salem between November 7 and November 15, 2011. The sample consisted of 603 residents of Virginia. Questions answered by the entire sample are subject to a sampling error of plus or mi-nus approximately 4 points at the 95 percent level of confidence.

A copy of the questions and all frequencies may be found on the Roanoke College web site: roanoke.edu/News_and_Events/C ampu s _ Ne w s / RC _ Pol l _Nov_2011.htm

Community | news | Perspective540-400-0990

Publisher | Stuart Revercomb | [email protected] Features Editor | Cheryl Hodges | [email protected]

News Editor | Gene Marrano | [email protected] Production Editor | Leigh Sackett | [email protected]

Technical Webmaster | Don Waterfield | [email protected] Advertising Director | Vickie Henderson | [email protected]

New Virginia Specialty License Plate Supports Community Trees

A new Virginia specialty license plate is avail-able for pre-order. The Virginia Loves Trees li-cense plate, featuring a community skyline en-hanced by trees in eye-catching blues and greens, is designed to raise awareness of the value of com-munity trees.

Supporting organizations include the urban forestry program in Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources and Environment, Trees Vir-ginia (the state's Urban Forestry Council), the Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association, the Mid-Atlantic Chapter, International Society of Arboriculture and the Virginia Green Industry Council.

The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles requires that 450 plates be pre-sold before it puts a proposed plate into production; the deadline for reaching that threshold for the Virginia Loves Trees plate is June 30, 2012. Once the minimum number of pre-orders is received, the plates will be made available at any Department of Motor Ve-hicles location. Plates can be pre-ordered online or by mail using forms at the Virginia Loves Trees website.

Susan Day, assistant professor of urban forestry at Virginia Tech, urges prospective buyers to or-der a plate as soon as possible: "Since the plates won't go into production until 450 are ordered, the sooner those 450 founding plates are sold, the sooner the Department of Motor Vehicles can be-gin producing them."

"The value of the plate isn't just supporting community trees monetarily, but also showing other Virginians that you care about the trees in

your neighborhood and community," she added. "It raises people's awareness of a valuable com-ponent of their community that many take for granted until it is gone."

The Virginia Loves Trees plate is a revenue-sharing specialty plate, meaning that $15 of the $25 plate fee will go to the sponsoring organiza-tions. Revenue sharing begins after the first 1,000 plates are sold. Proceeds will benefit the urban forestry program at Virginia Tech and Trees Vir-ginia, which helped start and continues to be a strong supporter of Virginia Tech's urban forestry program with student scholarships and funding for other student and community programs.

The Virginia Loves Trees plate was designed by a student graphic design group at Virginia Tech; a group of marketing students are developing a plan to promote the plate statewide.

By Lynn [email protected]

The Virginia Loves Trees license plate will sup-port education, outreach, and partnerships to enhance Virginia's community trees.

5 Things E-Books Can’t DoWith the advent of the e-

book, and with the excitement of a new round of e-readers and lower pricing, we all hear the speculation (and, sometimes, the proclamation) that the bound book is dead. It’s true that, increasingly, e-book sales are outstripping the bound book in many venues. However, the most avid readers who own an e-reader also keep their bound books. Why? Because there are still things an e-book can’t do. Here are five examples:

1. An e-book has no scent.

You can’t smell an e-book. Did you ever go into a used bookstore looking for your own copy of a favorite classic? The bookseller searches for the book with you and, finally, you’re both rewarded. You are hold-ing in your hands a nineteenth century copy of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion.” You open it and a whiff of another time meets your senses. That smell of old paper becomes part of the expe-rience of reading for you. That aroma is a bit of the icing on the cake of literature. Try that with an e-book!

2. An e-book can’t let you feel the differences in reading mate-rial.

One e-book feels the same as every other. Smooth. Pick up a hardback copy of Kathryn Stockett’s “The Help.” Feel the weight of it. Run your fingers over the embossed cover. Turn-ing each page is part of the eager anticipation of the next devel-opment in Hinds County, Mis-sissippi. You can’t feel the touch and texture of an e-book.

3. An e-book can’t really be kind to the environment.

You have a paperback copy of Steven Saylor’s “Roman Blood.” You’ve read it twice and lent it out three times. Your grandson pulls it off the coffee table and totes it happily to the muddy spot in the yard that the dog has created with that incessant bone burying ritual. It’s sad, but you know you have to replace the book and use this copy for fuel at the next weenie roast. It has begun the process of decompo-sition. However, should you de-

cide to dispose of your broken or outdated e-reader, how envi-ronmentally friendly do you re-ally think it is? “Roman Blood” is biodegradable. Can you say that about an e-reader?

4. An e-book can’t operate without a battery or a power cord and, preferably, a wi-fi hotspot.

That’s a real limitation for those who are marathon read-ers. However, a first edition hardback of Alan Furst’s “Night Soldiers” can be read anywhere there is good light, a hot bever-age, and a footstool. And you can read for as long as you like without worry of a power fail-ure. Seriously, you can even read it by candlelight in a power outage. Alan Furst… no batter-ies required.

5. An e-book is not easy to share.

Option one: You go to the store. You buy a copy of Ka-trina Kittle’s “The Kindness of Strangers.” You read it, cry, and know you have to give it to your friend, David, to read. (Mostly, because you like to see men cry, but Kittle really is brilliant.) You give it to David, he reads it, he cries, everyone’s happy. Option two: You get the e-book. You read it. It’s great, and then you start the hunt for a flash drive but eventually realize that you can’t put the book on the drive. You have to figure out how to get permission to share it. And by the time you figure it out, David has left for Chicago and the moment is lost. An e-book is not easy to share and sharing may not even be legally possible, anyway.

For those of us who are book-aholics, we know the future. We get it. We are not in denial. E-books are here. That’s clear. Get used to it.

But there will continue to be those of us who will want our heavy, embossed, old-paper-smelling, environmentally green, easy-to-share bound books, because we, too, are look-ing to the future. One hundred years from now, try to smell the digital copy of next year’s yet-to-be-released classic.

The future of the bound book is not dead, just moving to-ward an active retirement that’s physically fit and engaged with a sense of the beauty of living.

Michael McGee London is a playwright and the creator of limited edition hand-made nov-els. You can see his work at lon-donhousepublishing.com.

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North Cross Wins State Title

The North Cross Raiders traveled to VA Beach last Fri-day night to take on VISSA Division III powerhouse and defending State Champion Norfolk Christian Academy and though picked to lose by every sports-writer in the state (except our own Bill Turner) pulled off an impres-sive victory against the Ambassadors.

North Cross jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter (12-0) on two touch-down passes by quarterback Thomas Weav-er that were backed up by an aggressive defensive scheme put together by Defensive Coordinator and former UVA star and Balti-more Raven Shannon Taylor.

The Ambassadors, with four UVA commitments and an-other Division I prospect be-ing recruited by Navy, seemed confused by North Cross' speed on the outside and re-lentless pressure from defen-sive linemen Paul Smith, Aus-tin Mylott, Derek Mason and Paul Ross. The Raiders forced four fumbles and pressured Norfolk Christian Quarter-back Mekel Watson into three interceptions on a night in which he went 12 of 28 for 204 yards.

On the offensive side of the ball, Head Coach Stephen Al-exander had the Ambassadors reeling with a creative mix of plays run primarily out of the Raider’s spread offense. North Cross moved the ball consistently in the first half as running back Evan Anderson

churned out consistent yard-age and wideouts Hugh Cun-diff, Brice Woodliff, Josh Mur-ray and George Revercomb hauled in a variety of sharp passes from Weaver (12-24 for 154 yards and 4 touchdowns)

in building an 18-0 halftime lead.

Norfolk Christian came out swinging in the second half and seemed poised for a comeback but on 4th and 1, trailing by a score of 26 - 7, North Cross stuffed 6'-3" 240 pound Army All-American Kwontie Moore at the line of scrimmage and the Raider coaching staff ex-

ploded in celebration. The Ambassadors were able to get on the board one more time to make the final score 26-13 but the better team seemed to have the upper hand until the final gun.

After the game head coach Stephen A l e x a n d e r praised Taylor and his coach-ing staff and his players for their hard work and discipline in preparing for a team that clearly had sev-eral superstars who would be moving on to the college ranks. "Our guys listened

and bought into doing things the right way . . . as a team," said Alexander. "They never gave up - they gave it their all and they executed . . . I've never been so proud to be a Raider!"

North Cross finished 9-3 on the year in earning the VISSA Division III State Title.

The 2011 VISSA Division III State Champion North Cross Raiders.

North Cross linebackers George Revercomb and Chris Shelton stop Kwontie Moore for a short gain in the first half.

Wild Bill’s Weekly Sports Roundup

Cave Spring Cages Bulldogs To Advance To Region Final

Cave Spring relied on a re-lentless ground game and run-ning back Sam Wright scorched the Martinsville defense, as the Knights defeated the Bulldogs 41-9 Friday night at Dwight Bogle Stadium in the Region IV Division 3 semifinal.

Cave Spring travels to Rich-lands this Friday in the region final rematch of last year’s 36-23 win by the Blue Tornado.

The Knights faced a Martins-ville team they had topped 50-29 in week-two of the regular season, but any advantage the Bulldogs hoped for in the sec-ond meeting was dispelled by the Cave Spring defense.

The Knights swarmed every Martinsville offensive effort, holding the Bulldogs to 104 total yards. The lone Bulldog touchdown came in the final minute on a 75-yard fumble

return, long after the Knights were deep into their bench and the outcome clearly settled.

Wright was the primary of-fensive weapon for Cave Spring, picking up 297 yards on the ground on 31 carries, and scor-

ing four touchdowns from 7, 20, 28 and 46 yards. Wright, the all-time career and single-season rushing leader for Cave Spring, now has 33 TDs on the season.

Cave Spring also surprised any Martinsville game plan by bringing back quarterback Reece Kingery, who had been sidelined for the previous two games with a leg injury. Kingery responded with 125 yards in the air on 7-of-12 attempts. The to-tals included a 16-yard strike to Jon Evans in the second quar-ter and a 5-yard toss to junior Jack Woody early in the fourth. Jordan Bryant tacked on three PATs for the Knights and hauled in a trick-play 2-point conver-sion pass from backup QB Tony Simmons.

Cave Spring running back #28 Sam Wright breaks into the open field on his way to a 4-TD night against Martinsville.

The Knight’s defense, led by #20 Ryan Gerhardt and #57 Clay Woody, throws a Bulldog ball carrier for a loss in the region semifinal Friday night.

By Bill Turner [email protected]

Hold the applause. Stop the music. I am humbled by your e-mails and face-to-face com-ments about this column and its uncanny, if not ee-rie, clairvoyance.

The predictions hit the jackpot again last week with a perfect 5-0 performance in the ultimate test; playoff football, where only the best are left stand-ing and the onus falls squarely on the pre-dictor to show his savvy.

The highlight last Friday was the pick for North Cross to win the VIS Division 3 State Cham-pionship with a feat most felt improbable, if not impossible. This one did not take the guts many have given me credit for. Having covered North Cross all season, I saw the potential for this Stephen Alexander-coached team and went for the glory. Great win, North Cross.

Two of our local-eleven re-main in the playoff mix. Cave Spring travels to Richlands, and Northside entertains Brookville this Friday night in exact rematches from last year’s respective regional finals. Look for some different results in 2011.

It’s also time to look back on volleyball results after last weekend’s VHSL champion-ships closed the book on 2011.

Congrats go out to Patrick Henry, Hidden Valley, and North Cross on valiant runs deep in the playoffs. Two other local teams brought home state championships in their respec-tive divisions.

Roanoke Catholic captured the VISAA Division III title with a win over Grace Acade-my. Cave Spring won the VHSL Group AA championship with a win over Jamestown. With these results, Roanoke appears to be well on its way to being the volleyball mecca of the state.

Now, a last look in the mail-bag before a well-needed holi-day break. I hope every reader

has an enjoyable turkey day and, when we return, the hoops season will be upon us for a wild ride well into the winter.

Dear Wild Bill: My husband, Oliver, mar-vels at your psychic ac-curacy. I know it’s out of your sphere of in-fluence, but could you offer any prediction when the transmission

on my ‘93 Pontiac may blow? (Geneva/Callaway)

Answer: Well, Geneva, iron-ically I’ve heard your car’s nois-es and witnessed your driving habits. I’m not into mechanical duration patterns, but I can make a recommendation. Buy a AAA membership tout-suite.

Dear Predictionist: Any thoughts on this weekend’s Tech-UVa football game? (Andy/Bedford)

Answer: It should be a dandy. The last thing most in-telligent Hokies wanted was a Hoos win over Florida State last Saturday. Tech may win by

20, but have no doubt - this is one road they did not want to travel.

Dear Dr. Turner: Can heel calluses be safely removed by number-four sandpaper?

(Myrtle/Roanoke)Answer: No, no, Myrtle.

Like last year, you’ve sent your inquiry to the football col-umn. It’s the foot CARE feature you’re looking for. Help me, I need this break.

Send your inquiries to: [email protected]

Bill Turner


sPorts | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 11/25/11 -12/1/11

Send sports pictures, announcements and story ideas to

[email protected]

Sammy G. Oakey, PreSident • www.OakeyS.cOm • 982-2100rOanOke, nOrth, VintOn, SOuth and eaSt chaPelS

In Memory of Family & Friends.Each year, we pause to remember and honor our loved ones with an annual Service of Remembrance. We invite all the families Oakey’s has served during the past twelve months to attend one of the Services of Remembrance listed below.

Saturday, November 19, 3:00 p.m. - Roanoke & South ChapelMemorial service to be celebrated at Oakey’s South Chapel, 4257 Brambleton Ave.

Saturday, December 3, 3:00 p.m. - Vinton ChapelMemorial service to be celebrated at Oakey’s Vinton Chapel, 627 Hardy Road

We look forward to observing this special time with you.*A reception will follow each service.

2011

Knights Sign Letters Of Intent With College Scholarships

A pair of Cave Spring athletes signed to play at the college level during a ceremony in the school auditorium last Wednesday after-noon.

Morgan Shannon has decided to play volleyball for Davidson College after receiving the presti-gious Lowell L. Bryan Scholarship, awarded for character, leadership, academics and service. After competing with 300 students, she received notice earlier this month of being one of two recipients. A valedictorian at Cave Spring with a weighted GPA of 4.4043, Shan-non had also considered William & Mary. She is the daughter of Rhoda and Mike Shannon.

Also at Cave Spring, Lauren Sledd signed to play tennis for Catawba College, located 20 min-utes outside Charlotte. A starter for the Knights, Sledd pointed to the Catawba coach and the school’s location as her deciding factors. She had also considered Radford and USC-Aiken.

Sledd, who helped Cave Spring win the Group AA state volley-ball championship last weekend as the team’s standout libero, has an impressive 3.7 GPA. She is the daughter of Carol Hall and Tracy Sledd.

Morgan Shannon, with parents Rhonda and Mike Shannon, signed with Davidson.

Catawba-bound Lauren Sledd with mom Carol Hall and dad Tracy Sledd.


100 DiagnosticTesting

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> Knights From page 1

could deliver.With a pair of six-foot front

liners, Jamestown looked to be a force at the net, especial-ly when combined with an ar-ray of talented back-row de-fenders. But, the power game of the Eagles was frustrated all evening by a Cave Spring defense that time-after-time brought Jamestown shots off the hardwood. That, followed by the rapid Knight pass-ing game that typically led to Cave Spring kills, had the Eagles scrambling.

Cave Spring took game one with ease. The Knights jumped out to a 9-2 lead, eventually increasing the margin to elev-en, 23-12, before closing with the 25-14 win.

Game two had the Knights

up early at 8-3, before Jame-stown rallied to get within one point at 12-11. But, Cave Spring turned on the burn-ers, forging ahead with their precise pass-set-kill game for a late 22-16 lead. A pair of Jamsestown service er-rors doomed any chance of a comeback, and the Knights took the second game 25-19.

Jamestown hung tough in the third as the Eagles only trailed 14-13 midway through. Once again a Knight surge at the net put Cave Spring up 22-18, and set the stage for a

dramatic finish like no other.Jamestown, facing match

point, down 24-22, played what appeared to be the per-fect set-kill combo to draw within one. But, when the laser kill headed toward the hardwood, Cave Spring’s Craighead dove across the court for a desperation dig. As Jamestown prepared to celebrate the sure score, the ball bounced off Craighead’s outstretched foot, bound-ed across the net, landing squarely in the middle of four stunned Eagles who never moved.

The ref on the platform sig-naled point-Cave Spring as the Knights mobbed the court in celebration.

Cave Spring’s game plan was executed flawlessly. All-State hitter Morgan Shannon, who finished with a Cave Spring career-high 1,431 kills, pelted Jamestown with 19 kills, sev-eral of which tumbled Eagle defenders who had little an-swer for Shannon’s power. When Shannon wasn’t scat-tering the Jamestown back line, junior Erin Holsinger came from the middle, finish-ing with 12 kills of her own.

Holsinger also provided 2 blocks and became the single-

season block leader for the Knights, while Craighead and Sine each added three blocks at the net.

Craighead, however, was

the Cave Spring quarterback, setting the Knight offense with 34 well-placed assists. It was too much for Jamestown to overcome.

“This was by far the best de-fensive team I’ve seen all year,” Jamestown head coach Tom Stephenson said afterward. “That’s the reason they’re state champions.”

“We were really on today,” Knight’s head coach Tamalyn Tanis said with a huge grin. “I get nervous before any game. This was nice to watch. These girls had this goal all season. It was the seniors’ determina-tion and leadership that was key.”

It was Cave Spring’s fifth volleyball state champion-ship since 2003, moving them past six other teams who had previously been tied with the Knights in all classifications, at four. All five have come under Tanis. “It’s humbling,” the 10-year Knight coach said. “These girls work all season to prepare for this. It’s hard to imagine what they go through.”

For the Davidson-bound Shannon, her final game in a Cave Spring uniform was one she’ll never forget. “It hasn’t hit me yet,” she said with a smile.

For the equally talented Craighead, the win capped off her impressive career at Cave Spring as well. “(This was the) best defense I think I ever played.”

Cave Spring players mob the court as the Knights secure the clinching point against Jamestown.

Cave Spring all-state #10 Mor-gan Shannon brings up a dig as middle-line hitter #3 Erin Holsinger positions for a kill.

Knight seniors #1 Shannon Craighead and #11 Kelsey Sine frustrate the Jamestown defense with a passing attack for which the Eagles had no answer.

Cave Spring front-liners #11 Kelsey Sine and #1 Shannon Craighead reject a kill at-tempt by Jamestown outside hitter #7 Becca Schroeder.


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NOTICE OF SERVICE BY PUBLICATION

STATE OF NORTH

CAROLINA COUNTY OF NEW HANOVER

IN THE GENERAL COURT

OF JUSTICE DISTRICT COURT DIVISION 11 CV

001836

IN RE: BARBETTE SHERRIE WILLIAMSON , PLAINTIFF

VS MARSHALL EDWARD WILLIAMSON,

DEFENDANT.

TO: Marshall Edward Williamson

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a petition seeking relief

against you has been filed in the above-entitled action. The

matter of the relief being sought is as follows:

DIVORCE.

YOU ARE HEREBY RE- QUIRED to make defense to Such pleadings no later than forty (40) days from the date of the first publication if this

Notice, or from the date Com- plaint is required to be filed,

whichever is latter; upon your failure to do so, the party

seeking relief against you will apply to the court for the

relief sought.

THIS IS THE 18th DAY OF NOV, 2011.

WILLIAM T. BATCHELOR, II Attorney for Plaintiff

107 Castle Street Wilmington, North Carolina

28401. Telephone: (910) 796-7230

State Bar No.: 13250

(Legal notice published in the Roanoke Star Sentinel. )

Don’t worry... we won’t tell your kids how much you love living here!SM

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Letter to the editor:Given the recent elections resulting in a 20-20

split between the parties in the Senate of Virginia, some Republicans have suggested that they have the upper hand in drawing the rules, assigning chairmanships and controlling committees be-cause the Lieutenant Governor, who presides over the Senate and breaks tie votes on legislation, is a Republican. However, this is not so.

The last time the Senate was split 20-20 in 1996, the precedent was established to share power be-tween the parties. This was successfully and ami-cably done when the Lieutenant Governor was a Democrat. Power was shared; committees and committee chairs were divided to accommodate in a reasonable way each party regardless who might be the Lieutenant Governor.

Moreover, the Constitution of Virginia does not call for the Lieutenant Governor to vote on reorga-nization which occurs every four years. His power to vote to break ties does not include all matters. For example, he does not vote on the budget, taxes or the election of judges, as the constitution pro-vides that a majority of members elected to each house is required in such cases. Va. Const., Art. IV, §11 (budget, taxes); Va. Const., Art. VI., §7 (judi-cial elections). Other matters, such as resolutions to amend the constitution, also require a majority of members elected to cast an affirmative vote. Va. Const., Art. XII, § 1 (amendments). Likewise, he does not vote on reorganizational matters as he is not elected to the Senate.

On reorganizational matters, the constitution provides that "Each house shall select its officers and settle its rules of procedure." Va. Const., Art. IV, §7. Each house is defined as consisting of mem-bers who are elected to the respective house; thus, a majority of members of each house is required to select officers and settle rules of procedure. The constitution expressly states that "The Senate shall consist of not more than forty and not less than thirty-three members, who shall be elected qua-drennially by the voters of the several senatorial districts . . . . " Va. Const., Art. IV, §2. The Rules of the Senate - agreed to by both parties - further

provides that "A member of the Senate shall be a Senator elected to represent one of the 40 senato-rial districts". Rule 5, Rules of the Senate, adopted Jan 9, 2008, as amended Jan. 18, 2010. Clearly, the Lieutenant Governor is not a Senator and not a member of any house. He does not sit on commit-tees, does not debate legislation on the floor, and is not elected contemporaneously with Senators. There is no reason that he would inject himself in reorganization of the Senate every four years.

In short, since the Lieutenant Governor is not a member of the Senate, he has no role to play in reorganizing the Senate. The Senate Republican caucus took this position in 1996; that position prevailed and became the established precedent for reorganizing the Senate of Virginia. Thus, the forty senators will have to decide this issue in the manner they did in 1996. There is no reason they cannot do so when the Senate convenes in Janu-ary.

Some Republicans have also suggested that redistricting of the U.S. House of Representa-tives should be delayed until the new year when they will have more influence over the new Sen-ate. Again, the Virginia Constitution is on point. It states that Congressional redistricting must be done in 2011. Article 11, § 6 dealing with appor-tionment expressly provides that "The General Assembly shall reapportion the Commonwealth into electoral districts in accordance with this sec-tion in the year 2011 and every ten years thereaf-ter." Va. Const., Art. II, § 6. Thus, the legislature has no jurisdiction to reorganize in other years; to do so would allowa majority to take advantage of reapportionment to improve its political position whenever it wishes.

If the 2011 redistricting session ~ which was continued until after the elections — fails to agree, the only remedy is for a federal or state court to resolve the matter and redraw the congressional seats in Virginia as required by the constitution.

-John S. Edwards, State Senator21s t District of Virginia

You know why I WILL NOT go on Facebook because I be-lieve it feeds the self gratifying and narcissistic nature found in us all. Also I know I will think negative thoughts about all the people being “showy” on FB and I don't want to think negative thoughts about people. I don’t want to be tempted to judge people I would otherwise enjoy. I want to love and like people and share thoughts on life, God and love with them. I want intimate one on one relationships with people where we use more than four words to reflect on the day and it's beauty or struggles.

I don't want to hear 300 or more "friends" tell me how great I look or how they like my pics of my trip to Disneyworld or how cute my kids are. I don't want to see the results of a survey they did on how I drive a cool car and would not let people cheat off of me on a test. Or a survey on which Orange County House-

wife I am most like - because I hope to God no such compari-son could ever be made! It all seems a little like a flashback to High school. Do people really want to go back there? Isn’t life to be a progression, not a regres-sion? Are we spending too much time back there on FB?

I am sure there are redeeming qualities found in the FB experi-ence but I believe it often may inform people in a way that pulls them away from God and REAL life. I wonder how we might be different or transformed if we used our free time more wisely and read a good book or walked in the woods or wrote down our thoughts on some big or little things in life or shared lunch and real conversation with a friend.

What if we began to believe that it does not matter so much who we are and how much praise we get but what really matters is who God is and how much praise we give Him. In see-

ing who God is we may begin to understand who we are and then maybe we would no longer thirst so desperately for the attention of others for we would be full of a confidence from God. Such a light would show us how very unique and beautiful we are but more importantly how beautiful others are and more than that how very beautiful the God who created us all is.

Facebook is like anything else - it is all in how you use it. Many people probably use it for great things and they are sharing in wonderful relationships with others. BUT I wonder if like we often find with television - the bad outweighs the good.

Like with cigarettes - I wonder if we would be better off without FB. A spade is a spade.

- A Roanoker

If you have an anonymous rant you would like to submit send it to [email protected]

“The Anonymous Rant . . .”

Letter: Operation Christmas Cheer, Inc. Says Thank You!

In this the season of thanks, we at Operation Christmas Cheer, Inc. would like to take time to thank those who support us and our mission. Operation Christ-mas Cheer has entered into our fourth season serving children in Botetourt County through a partnership with the Botetourt County Department of Social Services. Over the past three years we have provided Christ-mas for 81 children of 39 fami-lies. This year we are serving 30 children in 20 families!

In the past we have been able to provide the children with a toy, at least one if not two new outfits, a coat, hat, mittens, blan-ket, stuffed stocking, box of hard candy and an orange. Addition-ally we have provided each fam-ily with Christmas Dinner and the fixings as well as food staples including flour, sugar, salt, pep-per, peanut butter, jelly, canned

fruits, vegetables and meats, rice, beans, spaghetti and sauce, meal helpers and more. All of this is done with 100% volunteer labor and monetary donations from individuals. The final touch on our charity is the delivery meth-od. We throw a Party with Santa for the children at which they can get their picture taken (we give them a picture in a frame to take home), sing Christmas Car-ols and Songs and make crafts. Then the children and their parents take their gifts home to open on Christmas Day.

We have been blessed to have the donations and volunteers to accomplish all we do and are be-yond grateful! This past year we obtained 501(c)(3) status with the IRS. In addition, Operation Christmas Cheer was nomi-nated for a 2010 and 2011 Roa-noke Regional Chamber Small Business Award in the Category

of Not-For-Profit Health & Hu-man Services. It truly has been an exciting year at Operation Christmas Cheer!

Again, you make this all pos-sible. We have our Angels. Our humble request is that you make a donation that you or your busi-ness can afford. Through you we can all help these children have a nice Christmas experience with warm clothes, toys and food. Your continued support is ap-preciated more than you can imagine.

Can we count on you?Again, we take this time to

thank the individuals and busi-nesses who have participated in and been supportive of Opera-tion Christmas Cheer, Inc.

Sincerely,Bob & Wendy Jones, President & Vice President, Operation Christmas Cheer, Inc.

Steve Jobs, Occupy Wall Street and UsApparently the greatest indus-

trialist in American history was not always the nicest guy.

He yelled at people. He in-sisted they do it his way. He fired them if they did not. Sometimes he fired them if they did.

Steve Jobs set out to change the world though one simple goal: Perfection. He had to settle for excellence. He inspired a lot of people along the way.

Jobs would not have been welcome at the Occupy Wall Street protests. He was a not a “wave your fingers in the air if you want to let me talk” kind of fellow.

Nor did he care a darn about creating jobs. Steve Jobs was all about creating excellent goods and services for people. The jobs were a side effect. Not a driving force.

From what anyone can tell, members of the Occupy Wall Street crowd think talking about creating jobs by waving your fin-gers is the same as actually creat-ing jobs. Of course it is not. And if the Occupy Wall Street crowd would put down their iPads and iPhones for a moment, they can learn why by looking at a tale of two companies:

Twenty miles apart in the Silicon Valley sit two buildings: One is empty, funded by $535 billion of guaranteed govern-ment loans.

The other is a bustling cam-pus that belongs to the largest publicly traded enterprise in the world; started by two guys in

their mom’s garage. As for gov-ernment guarantees, they were not even guaranteed their moms would let them work there.

One is thriving. The other is dead. One changed the world. The other may change an elec-tion. One is Apple. The other Solyndra.

Solyndra touted its solar pan-els as unique. Scientists saw little that was revolutionary, but the marketing people did not want to hear that. Neither did a be-dazzled Department of Energy before it cut them a check for half a billion dollars.

A Livermore movie theater was one of the first to install the government funded solar pan-els. They were not as effective as advertised. But few knew. Or wanted to know.

Construction of Solyndra’s state-of-the art plant continued. Somehow it is human nature to be more lavish with other people’s money, something Jobs and Steve Wozniak never expe-rienced.

Solyndra opened its “Taj Ma-

hal” of plants in September 2010 with much fanfare. It was noth-ing like the Steve Jobs’ garage. But it did have alternative en-ergy A-Listers such as Governor Schwarzenegger and Vice Presi-dent Biden.

For $535 million, Solyndra created 3,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs -- that lasted one year.

The plant was closed one year later, on August 31, 2011. It was never close to breaking even.

Many knew that before Solyn-dra admitted it. In May of 2010, Solyndra’s own auditors issued as “going concern” letter -- only issued when auditors believe that serious doubt exists that the company will survive beyond twelve months.

Mysteriously, this did not stop President Obama from showing up at Solyndra in May to hail it as a model for a bright new fu-ture in our economy.

He had the right idea. Just the wrong building.

-Bill Gunderson

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Inprint Makes Strong Move Towards Tourism Branding

Taking a vacation is good business for Inprint, a creative firm based in downtown Vinton. Building off the success of win-ning a joint Virgo Award from the Virginia Association of Con-vention and Visitors Bureaus with the Botetourt County Of-fice of Tourism this past spring, Inprint has continued its move into strategic brand building with a large focus on tourism.

Inprint’s David Mikula and David Harris first met while the latter was employed by Leisure Publishing in the early 1990s. Mikula was working with him doing color pre-press specialty work for Leisure on behalf of Moody Graphics. They decided to pool their expertise together and start Inprint, named after their objective to “provide the creative services for any kind of project that would end up in print.” The duo quickly estab-lished themselves in the Roanoke region, designing brochures and logos for clients such as the Roa-noke Express hockey franchise, for which they won their first ADDY in 1994. In 2002, they moved their operations out of an industrial park to a cozy former home in downtown Vinton.

In 2008, Inprint shifted their focus and decided to specialize in a few particular areas: tour-ism, hospitality and foodser-vice. The firm has made a deep commitment to the first area in particular, becoming part of the Southeast Tourism Society and putting Mikula through their three-year continuing education program. He’s also written schol-arly articles on the unique chal-lenge of brand building. While Mikula says that they “treasure the relationships” they have with clients outside of tourism and foodservice, he attributes the redirection to past successes in these fields and a better affinity with their philosophy. “These are industries in which wild creativ-ity helps move the needle and we’re a wildly creative firm.”

Along with this specialization came a different approach in the form of, as Harris puts it, “getting involved a little more upstream in strategy.” Mikula has taken point as the firm’s brand strategist and

research expert. He uses surveys, online research and on-site vis-its to get a comprehensive view of a client’s strengths and weak-nesses. One method specific in the field of tourism is examining conversion studies, which is for a destination (for example, Bo-tetourt County). He follows up with those who have requested travel information from a tour-ism board to ask them if they visited and gathers feedback.

Mikula stresses the impor-tance of research in strategic brand development for their campaigns: “the combination of good research and good creative work is what becomes needed to stand out from the bombard-ment of ads nowadays.” Inprint guides clients through the de-velopment of media plans that feature e-newsletters and social media, showing them “the most effective ways to get their mes-sage out there.”

Botetourt County has been the domain of some of their largest tourism initiative suc-cesses. In addition to creating the county’s logo, brochure and website, they brought the overall look of the campaign to niche travel markets such as wine routes in their campaign for the Botetourt Wine Trail. Their Upper James River Water Trail campaign, which won them the Virgo Award in Eco-Tourism in addition to the ADDYs locally, highlights the kayaking, canoe-ing and tubing opportunities on the 45 miles of the James River in Botetourt County.

Botetourt is also part of their

Crossroads to Settlement ad campaign which taps into heri-tage and cultural tourism as visi-tors retrace the steps of settlers across five southwestern Virginia communities. Heritage tourism is a growing niche that presents its own unique marketing chal-lenges in the form of more afflu-ent and educated travelers that have higher expectations.

One of their Botetourt ini-tiatives that brought them to national attention was a simple online ad for Blue Collar Joe’s that was placed on the Food Net-work’s website when the donut shop was featured on the Food Network Challenge. According to Mikula, the ad received triple the click-through rate of typical ads on the site. USA Today and Southern Living are among the national publications that have featured Inprint’s campaigns.

Their other regional tourism efforts include a campaign for the Allegheny Highlands that began this past summer with the launch of their tourism website and work done for both Abing-don and Franklin County. Ef-forts to brand Allegheny High-land tourism netted Inprint a Gold Davey Award recently from the International Academy of Visual Arts. More than 4000 entries competed for the awards in several categories.

They’re currently in the process of working with Page County, home to Luray Caverns. When asked if they’ve noticed any tourism trends in recent years, the duo says they’ve seen states marketing more within their own boundaries than be-fore, due to a slowed-down economy necessitating smaller budgets for travelers.

Whether it’s tourism or in other markets, Harris says the brand researching and strategiz-ing they’ve been building on in recent years has become more important to the people they work with: “clients are wanting to make sure that they know where their money can do the most good.” (see inprintinc.com for more details on the firm)

By Aaron [email protected]

Manage Your Money Carefully This Holiday Season

As you know, the holiday season can be joyous, hectic, celebratory — and expensive. And while you certainly enjoy hosting family gatherings and giving presents to your loved ones, you’ll find these things even more pleasurable if they don’t add a lot more weight to your debt load. And that’s why you’ll want to follow some smart money-management techniques over the next few weeks.

To begin with, try to establish realistic budgets for both your entertaining and your gift giv-ing. When you host family and friends, don’t go overboard on your expenditures. Your guests will still appreciate your efforts, which, with a little creativ-ity, can create a welcoming and fun experience for everyone. As a guiding principal, keep in mind these words attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous German poet and philosopher: “What you can do without, do without.” Set a bud-get and stick to it.

And the same rule applies to your gifting. You don’t need to

find the most expensive pres-ents, or overwhelm recipients with the sheer volume of your gifts. This is especially true if you, like so many people, have been affected by the tough economy. Everyone you know will understand that gifts don’t have to be lavish to be meaning-ful.

Furthermore, by sticking to a budget, you won’t be tempted to dip into your long-term invest-ments to pay for fabulous par-ties or mountains of gifts. It’s never a good idea to tap long-term investments for short-term needs, but can be especially bad when your investment prices are down, as they may well be this year.

So, if you want to stick to a budget but you don’t want to raid your investments, how can you pay for your holiday season expenses? If you can spread out your purchases, you may be able to pay for them from your normal cash flow. But if that’s not possible, you might want to consider “plastic” — your credit card. Using your credit card does not, by itself, need to

amount to a financial setback, especially if you’ve chosen a card that offers favorable terms and you’ve already shown the discipline not to over-use that card. Just try to minimize your credit card usage over the holi-days and pay off your card as soon as you can.

Of course, you can make your holiday season much easier, fi-nancially speaking, if you’ve set up a holiday fund to cover your various expenses. While it’s too late to set up such a fund this year, why not get an early start on the 2012 holiday season? All you need to do is put away some money each month into an easily accessible account, separate from your everyday ac-counts. You don’t have to put in a great deal, but you do need to be consistent, which is why you may want to have the money moved automatically, once a month, from your checking or savings account to your holiday fund. When next year’s holiday season rolls around, you might be pleasantly surprised by how much you’ve accumulated.

But for now, following some common-sense money man-agement practices can help you get through the holiday season in financial shape — and that type of result can get your new year off to a positive start.

Carl Grove is a Financial Ad-visor at Edward Jones located in Roanoke. He may be reached at 540-344-9211 or [email protected]. Edward Jones, its associates and financial advi-sors do not provide tax or legal advice.

David Harris and David Mikula have carved out their own creative niche.

In the tradition of keeping up with the latest technology and equipment that has kept Wood’s Service Centers serving its customers since 1957, the company Center will begin construction on a new addition to it's facility at 418 Washington Av-enue in Vinton.

Wood’s will be adding an additional 5600 square feet to the existing 6700 square foot building. The addition will be used to make more room for inside parking of towing and recovery trucks and equip-ment, while adding more room for its automotive repair services, tire department and wheel align-ment departments. Kellen Williams of Wood's said that the company "believes in staying up to date with the latest technology and with this new addi-tion the locally owned family business is continu-ing this trend."

The family business has evolved from a small service station to an operation that includes, au-tomotive and truck service, towing, hauling and involved recoveries. Plans are in place to start con-struction in November of this year with comple-tion around March of 2012.

Wood’s Service Center To Expand

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Roanoke College Jazz And Wind Ensembles To Present Holiday Concert

The Roanoke College Jazz and Wind Ensembles under the direction of Dr. Joseph Blaha will present its annual joint Holiday Concert Thursday, Decem-ber 8, in the Olin Hall Theater at 7:30 p.m.

The concert will feature the Jazz Ensemble per-forming arrangements of such diverse tunes as Sammy Nestico’s exciting “Basie Straight Ahead,” written for and recorded by the Count Basie Or-chestra, and a very complex work influenced by the rhythms of India by guitarist, Pat Metheny. There will be the usual salute to funk and fusion with Bill Liston’s “Fall Madness” and a samba offering of the familiar “Tico, Tico” by Zequinha Abreu. The bal-lad for the evening will feature Roanoke College trombonist, Peter Foxen, performing the Stan Ken-ton Orchestra version of “Polka Dots and Moon-beams” arranged by Bill Holman. Band vocalist and trumpeter, Dumar Daniel, will put his own holiday spin on the old, familiar, “Ain’t Misbehavin.’

The Wind Ensemble will open its portion of the concert with Blaha’s own, The Kiron Processional, a work that coincidentally has themes based on the first four notes of two familiar Christmas car-ols. The band will then follow up with William Slocum’s arrangement of Girolamo Frescobaldi’s magnificent, Toccata. Other compositions will in-

clude the dynamic tribute to those fallen in battle entitled, Black Granite, by former arranger for The United States Army Band (Pershing’s Own), James L. Hosay and Malcolm Arnold’s fiery Four Scottish Dances. The evening will conclude with a concert suite of music from the holiday motion picture, The Polar Express, composed by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard—a piece that coincidentally uses a theme based on the first four notes of a famous Christmas carol.

The concert is free and open to the public. No tick-ets are required.

The Jazz and Wind Ensemble performing.

Book Release: The Battle of White Sulphur Springs

Averell Fails to Secure West VirginiaBy Eric J. Wittenberg

Though West Virginia was founded for the pur-pose of remaining loyal to the Union, severing ties with Virginia, home of the capital of the Confederacy, would prove difficult. West Virgin-ia's fate would be tested on its battlegrounds. In August 1863, Union general William Woods Averell led a six-hun-dred-mile raid culminating in the Battle of White Sulphur Springs in Greenbrier Coun-ty. Colonel George S. Patton, grandfather of the legend-ary World War II general, met Averell with a dedicated Confederate force. After a fierce two-day battle, Patton defeated Averell, forcing him to retreat. Civil War historian Eric J. Wittenberg presents a fascinating in-depth analysis of the proceedings in the first book-length study of this im-portant battle.

Eric J. Wittenberg is an award-winning Civil War historian. Originally from

southeastern Pennsylvania, he was educated at Dickinson College and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is an attorney in private prac-tice. He is also the author of more than fifteen published books on the Civil War and serves as a member of the Governor of Ohio's Commis-sion on the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War and as vice-president of the Buffington Island Battlefield Preserva-tion Foundation.

DOWNSIZING - An Exhibit of Art By Kirk and Barbara Norman Lashley

Liminal Alternative Artspace at the Community School for Art and Academics, 302 Camp-bell Avenue in Roanoke will feature husband and wife, Kirk and Barbara Norman Lashley, in a joint exhibit opening on Art by Night, December 2, 2011 from 5 to 9. The show will run through January 13.

When Kirk's fourth grade teacher awarded a blue ribbon to his horse picture he knew he was an artist. As a teen-ager Kirk designed model cars. Barbara, who grew up in Mar-tinsville, drew clothes for her paper dolls and dreamed of trav-eling the world as a fa-mous fashion design-er. The Lashleys have been married over 51 years. They met as freshmen at Blue-field College. Kirk is a retired minister and Barbara has been a practicing artist for over thirty years. They have traveled to nearly fifty countries and visited many major museums of the world. The Lash-leys have three grown children, seven grand-

children and three great grandchildren. They reside in Roa-noke County.

Kirk will primar-ily show wooden sculptures created since his retirement. Barbara will exhibit several paintings and one-of-a-kind cards constructed using discarded monotype prints, paintings, photo-graphs and draw-ings. The couple will display one col-laborated piece enti-

tled “High-Low Collaboration.” It consists of six components, each fashioned from recycled tin roofing.

This will be the third time Kirk has exhibited his art. Last year he was a guest artist at The Market Gallery and “Venus in Oak” was included in the Roa-noke College Biennial. Barbara is a member of The Market Gal-lery. Her work is in over thirty educational and corporate col-lections in the U.S., Norway, Germany and Australia. Her work was included in a traveling exhibition in Brazil.

“Downsizing” was selected as the title of this exhibit by Gallery Director, Brian Counihan. The title suggests the Lashleys stage in the life as they plan to move into a smaller home. It also contrasts Kirk's large sculptures with Barbara's small cards.

Both Lashleys graduated from Bluefield College. Kirk is also a graduate of the University of Richmond, Southwestern Semi-nary in Fort Worth, Texas and Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Barbara graduated from Averett Univer-sity and holds a M.A.L.S. from Hollins University.

An example of Bar-bara Lashley’s one-of-a-kind cards.

A totem sculpture by Kirk Lashley.

Another Foray - Music By River LakerFirst, let’s get this straight:

River Laker, who puts together programs for the Roanoke City Library system, is not a musi-cian or a songwriter. At least he wasn’t, until the Laker Experi-ment came along. And his band, Laker? It’s really just him and one other person now, producer Josa Wakes, who plays several instru-ments but could just be manning a beat box when Laker takes to the stage this Friday night at Kirk Avenue Music Hall. The show will feature some or all of the 11 tracks River Laker composed for his musical debut. Other Roa-noke area performances may be scheduled in the near future.

Those 11 tracks will be re-leased in three stages in the EP (extended play) format, begin-ning with the first EP that will be available at Kirk Avenue Music Hall on Friday Nov. 25 during the 8pm show. A portion of the proceeds will go to Bethany Hall, a women’s center for recovery from substance abuse.

Laker’s music will also be avail-able on The Uncmonwealth label (theuncmonwealth.com) run by Wes Powell, who has taken on the Brit’s latest excursion. Pow-ell also can be reached through a Facebook page and on Twitter. You may remember the Car-less Brit, wherein Laker sold his Volvo, on somewhat of a whim, and then turned his life without a vehicle into a media happening, urging others to think about go-ing without a car, at least in short spurts.

Then there was the month when Laker tried to subsist by bartering with others for every-thing – the plan was not to pur-chase anything. And of course, the incident at 202 Market where he shed his clothes on stage, which led to an inquiry from ABC officials.

The Laker Experiment and the band Laker is a lot less contro-versial but maybe just as interest-ing: can a non-musician who has never written songs compose a handful of them in a short pe-riod of time? That’s what River Laker did, using sounds on his iPad to come up with the beats he wanted. “River’s our first elec-tronic dance group,” said Powell of the artists on his label, which has been up and running for a year-plus. He’s worked mainly with hip-hop artists from the Richmond and Charlottesville areas.

Laker helped Powell book the first live show for one of the bands he promotes, during the Emerging Artist series at the main library branch on Jefferson. Now Powell, who also works for the library system, is returning the favor. “He had a program at the library with iPads and iP-hones, creating music, beats and stuff,” recalls Powell. “I think he got intrigued by it.”

With typical cheekiness, Laker jokes that, “I always felt I would be a star.” He’s never written mu-sic, never played an instrument. A program on his iPhone called Thumbjam helped him come up with the notes he wanted, in the sequences that turned into

songs. He saw another local band use

electronic music during a show at The Coffee Pot, also taking cues from that. Laker hopes that his venture serves as inspiration for other creative types of all stripes, pushing them to think outside of the box. He documented the whole process on a blog, avail-able at lakerexperiment.tumblr.com. There’s also a Laker page on Facebook.

“It’s taking a lot more time than I thought it would,” said Laker of the seven month process, which has also included the shooting of a music video for his band. At one time there were other mem-bers besides Wakes but the slow process of bringing The Laker Experiment to fruition may have led some of them in other direc-tions.

“I hear that’s the sign that you’re a real band, that they come and go,” said Laker, who also record-ed sounds like his foot scraping across a grating to use on one of his tunes. “Josa Wakes has been incredible, trying to simplify it so we can play it live,” he noted.

“He’s not a technical musician … and I’m not sure he knows how to count,” jokes Powell, who at-tended the Art Institute in D.C., “but he’s progressed a lot in seven months.”

“I’m more nervous for this show than anything in my whole life,” said Laker, who started out wanting to create “perfect pop songs” but found what he came up with to be a lot more com-plex. He’s hoping for the best this Friday night, when he makes his debut as the leader of a band, singing vocals on songs he cre-ated: “I really don’t want it to be a train wreck.”

David Sylvian, the subject of Laker’s first single, was a real life musician in England when Lak-er was a teen. “I became totally obsessed,” he admits. Laker even tracked Sylvian down and spoke to him over the phone as his mu-sic hero asked him repeatedly how Laker had gotten his num-ber (he had fibbed to the phone operator about being a relative who needed Sylvian’s number.)

David Sylvian, Cookies and Cream and You Would, Would You? are the three songs available this Friday and online as the first EP. Laker has also uploaded his tunes to an iPhone, where they are shuffled with songs from es-tablished artists. “It’s incredibly satisfying to listen to a song that you’ve totally made yourself… its really great.”

If it is indeed a train wreck (the first single, David Sylvian, is melodic, with Laker speaking most of the lyrics) those attend-ing the show at Kirk Avenue Mu-sic Hall probably won’t be able to take their eyes off of River Laker anyway.

Photo by Sam Hensley

River Laker during the shoot-ing of the “Laker” music video, directed by Matt Ames.

Wittenberg’s Civil War book.

By Gene [email protected]

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