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Faith Christian School in southwest Roanoke County will celebrate its 10th annual Project Faith day of volunteerism next Friday (April 29) by pitching in at several locations on or near Mill Mountain. Volunteer chairman Stacy Lilley (she has three children at the K-12 school) says the 500 or so volunteers – about 300 students in all grades, parents and others – will be spread out among several work projects: mulching wild-flower beds outside Mill Mountain Zoo, clean-ing up at the Roanoke Mountain camp-ground and doing some work on horse trails near the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Project Faith is also a major fundraiser for the school, with expected pledges of $150,000 from businesses and individu-als. The school spends months prepar-ing students for the day of volunteering, which ends with a celebration on cam-pus in the afternoon. Previous Project Faith efforts took students to the Salva-tion Army, Roanoke Rescue Mission, the YWCA in downtown Roanoke and

Jubilee Acres, a summer camp for the underprivi-leged in western Roanoke County, for cleanup and painting.

“We’ve outgrown go-ing to just one place,” said Lilley. The 10th an-niversary was a chance to go to places “that don’t get many services. We wanted to get stuff done.” Kindergartners through second graders will work with local garden club members at Mill Moun-tain Zoo; third through fifth graders will head to the campground, where “huge budget cuts” in

the Blue Ridge Parkway budget have led to less maintenance. “They are in desper-ate need this year,” said Lilley.

The recent threat of a gov-ernment shutdown could have meant that a backup plan was necessary, since

the parkway is part of the National Park Service; Lilley said the organizing com-mittee pledged “not to talk about it” but she was relieved when the U.S. Congress found a way to pass the federal budget plan.

> CONTINUEDP3: Faith

Southern Hospitality

The 78th Annual Roanoke Home and Garden Tour will be held on Saturday, April 23, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., rain or shine. The tour is sponsored by the Roanoke Valley Garden Club and the Mill Mountain Garden Club and is part of Historic Garden Week, an annual event presented by the Garden Club of Virginia in which homes and gardens all around Virginia are open to the public. Well known as the oldest and largest statewide house and garden tour in the United States, tourists from all across the country travel to Virginia to take part in this springtime event. The event began in 1929 and has been in

Democrats Put On The Spot At Tea Party Tax Day

All elected officials in the Roanoke area were invited to attend but none were per-mitted to speak. They were there “to listen to us” explained Greg Aldridge.

It was threatening rain at Elmwood Park Friday as about 200 people gathered to protest “Taxed Enough Already.” There was the smell of barbecue in the air (did someone say pork?) as the event dubbed “a reverse town hall” got underway.

The event was the third of its kind since a group of 500 people assembled on Re-serve Avenue to express frustration over increasing deficit spending. That day led to the formation of the Roanoke Tea Party.

Those attending were Senators Ralph Smith and John Edwards and Roanoke City Council members Sherman Lea and Bill Bestpitch. Councilman Ray Ferris observed from afar as did Clerk of Court Brenda Hamilton and other Democrats.

Lea said, “first and foremost, I’m a public servant … I don’t ask them if they are a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or in the Tea Party. If they are a citizen of the city then

[Service]

2012 Roanoke City Budget Less Painful

Fiscal year 2012 projected revenue for Roa-noke City will be two percent above that of fis-cal year 2011 totaling $258.6 million – a $6 mil-lion increase. If predictions are correct revenue stability will alleviate some painful budget decisions of the past.

The slight uptick in revenue will not get your leaves picked up this fall or bulk and brush collection returned to weekly pickup. That is probably gone forever.

Bulk and brush collection remains on the same schedule - every other week. The hotly debated bus schedule will do the same. Peak morning and late afternoon/evening runs will stay on a thirty-minute schedule for now. The buses, however, will not carry students down-town unless the colleges want to pay for it.

TAP and Blue Ridge Behavior Health will be funded. The city has shrunk the government by 188 positions since the budget crunch be-gan. Employees are working harder due to less staffing but are not getting a raise. City Man-ager Chris Morrill will advise city council if employees can get a one-time stipend in their next budget work session on May 9.

For downtown residents there will be no

[City Gov’t]

> CONTINUEDP2: Budget

Karen Kwiatkowski will challenge 6th District incumbent Congressman Republican Bob Goodlatte in a June 12, 2012 primary or convention. Kwiat-kowski was the top pick of Libertarians to run for President in 2008. She de-clined the draft attempt and has not run for any other office until now.

She is running as a Republican, looks for Tea Party support and is making the rounds prepar-ing for an official announce-ment in June. Her campaign manager, Joe Oddo, said in a phone call Tuesday that she had intended to come to Roanoke’s Tax Day event April 15 but

had fallen ill and was “under the weather.”

Kwiatkowski has made ap-pearances in Lynchburg, Staun-ton and Harrisonburg. She has made contact with acting 6th District Republican Chair Chaz Evans-Heywood, Rocking-ham Clerk of Circuit Court

notifying him of her intentions.

Since Trixie Averill’s res-ignation, Chaz Evans-Hey-

wood of Harrisonburg has been acting Chairman. Lynchburg GOP Chairman, Mark Peak has announced his candida-

cy for the open position. That election is on May 7.

She plans to take Goodlatte to task on his “term limit” pledge. His term has been up long ago, explained Oddo. His “yes” vote on the budget bill to

extend funding the federal government through Sep-tember without sufficient

budget cuts, is also a bone of contention she has with Goodlatte.

The Patriot Act is unconstitutional, says Kwiatkowski on her website, Kar-enKforCongress.com. “In fact, he asked me to show proof that the FISA warrants

were being used on American citizens. I have seen the evidence. His campaign donors benefit from his looking the oth-er way,” she said.

She admonishes Goodlatte for not proposing the elimination of ethanol subsidies and mandates.

Kwiatkowski would repeal the 17th amendment to the Constitution and re-turn the power to Governors and state legislators to appoint Senators to the U.S. Senate. She would also repeal the 16th amendment that gives the federal

Goodlatte Will Have Challenger in 6th District

Photo by Valerie Garner

Ralph Smith, John Edwards, Sherman Lea and Bill Bestpitch listen closely.

> CONTINUED P2: Garden Tour

> CONTINUEDP2: Challenger

Project Faith Can Move Mountains – Or Make Them Look Better

[Politics]

> CONTINUED P2: Tea Party

[Home and Garden Tour]

Karen Kwiatkowski

Photo by Gene Marrano

Faith Christian students work at Jubilee Acres during a previous service project.

RacersSoggy

P3– The skies opened up above last week’s Blue Ridge Marathon but it didn’t stop runners from setting records and having a great day.

Smartnot so

P4– Stephanie koehler has to give up her “smart” phone for a few days and realizes the very “dumb” impact that technology can have.

ShopPop’s

P10– Pop’s Ice Cream and Soda Shop in Grandin village is not just another eatery. It dispenses far more than its name indicates.

DogTop

P12– The vinton Dog-wood festival has become one of the valley’s largest and longest standing events - attracting visitors from around the region.

Spring tulips burst to life offering a striking contrast of color along this Boxwood hedge on the Garden Tour.

Friday looks cool, highs only reaching the lower 60s with cloudy skies and scattered showers in the forecast. We should warm up again this weekend, topping out in the mid-to-upper 70s on Saturday, climbing to near 80 on Easter Sunday. Both weekend days will see more clouds than sunshine, On Easter Sunday there is a 40% chance for showers/storms. Sunrise on Easter Sunday is around 6:34 am.

Page 2 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 4/22/11 - 4/28/11 newsRoanoke.com

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continuous existence with the exception of several years during World War II.

This year’s tour is titled “Southern Hospi-tality in Salem”. The self-guided tour takes place in Salem and includes five homes and one garden. Highlights include beautiful gardens, both formal and informal, as well as interesting statuary and lovely outdoor living spaces. All homes will feature superb flower arrangements created by members of the two sponsoring garden clubs, with emphasis on colorful seasonal flowers and plants native to this area. Visitors will be delighted by exceptional collections of art-work, silver, china, and fine American and European antiques, artifacts and rugs. Gar-dens will feature mature landscaping as well as recent renovations.

To celebrate Historic Garden Week, a one-day show featuring works of local art-

ists will be on display and for sale at Roa-noke College’s President’s Home - one of the featured homes. The works will include watercolors, oils, mixed media and pottery. A partial listing of participating artists in-clude: Lee Penny Baker, Judy Bates, Tracy Budd, Mary Boxley Bullington, Vera Dick-erson, Eric Fitzpatrick, Tom Lawson, Pam Ogden, Greg Osterhaus, Harriett Stokes, Gari Stephenson, Nancy Stark, Nan Ma-hone Wellborn, Barry Wolfe, Elizabeth Per-kins and Laura Blue Palmer.

The cost of a full ticket is $20.00. (There will be no single house tickets.) Tickets may be purchased on tour day at any of the houses open for the tour, or in advance at the following businesses: Townside Gar-dens, 3614 Franklin Rd., Roanoke; Choco-latepaper, 308 Market St. Roanoke or 3260 Electric Rd., Roanoke; Through the Garden

Gate, 4710 Starkey Rd., Roanoke; Millie’s, 109 E. Main St., Salem; Countryside Clas-sics, 120 E. Main St., Salem; and all local Valley Bank branch locations. For more in-formation and to purchase tickets by mail, contact the Roanoke Council of Garden Clubs at 540-343-4519. For internet tickets, please access www.vagardenweek.org.

A gourmet box lunch by Roanoke Col-lege’s Executive Chef will be available for $12 at Roanoke College’s President’s Home, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., through prior reser-vation only, by e-mailing [email protected].

Weather permitting, light refreshments will be served from 2-4 p.m. in the garden of one of the homes on the day of the tour.

> Garden Tour From page 1

more free parking. Citizens were originally allowed to park two vehicles free which was then reduced to one vehicle, and having to pay for the sec-ond parking space.

Downtown dwellers with one car will now receive a 75 percent discount on parking garages and lots. Decals will be issued and on street parking will also be pro-vided. Two cars get a much bet-terl and actually cost less than paying the old full price for the second vehicle which was $45 a month. Now citizens will pay $22.50 for two. If they have one vehicle it will cost them $11.25 for a space.

Council member Sherman Lea made a point that “this City Council has stepped up to the plate” in their extra funding for the schools. Director of Finance, Ann Shawver, said that even

in tough city revenue times they were able to assist the schools by $3 million. “We are living up to our respon-sibilities,” she said.

P r o p e r t y taxes are up by five percent above forecast, as are sales and meals taxes.

Court Rosen asked about funding of the Budget Stabiliza-tion Reserve and Undesignated Fund balance. Shawver con-firmed that $250,000 would be placed in both.

City Manager Chris Morrill bemoaned an increase in traffic signal sign changes mandated by the state. “It is another state unfunded mandate the city will

have to pick up,” he said.

M a i n t e -nance of city facilities will be stepped up as well as side-walk repairs.

S h a w v e r cautioned that revenue could

turn south quickly.The area of concern is real

estate taxes. This tax comprises 30 percent of the city’s revenue. Real estate valuations are falling throughout the region. At the time of a home sale the actual sales price is compared to its as-sessed value. The goal is that the assessed value is 95 percent of the sales price. Overall city ad-justments to the assessed value of property would possibly bring Roanoke another revenue

crisis.With foreclosures and short-

sales pressuring home values there is a very real possibility the city’s revenue could take a hit. Time will tell, said Shawver.

There will be a public hearing on the budget in council cham-bers on April 28 at 7:00 p.m. Then it will be back to council by May 6th. Adoption is ex-pected on May 9 at the 2 p.m. session.

At the 7:00 p.m. council ses-sion on Monday School Board Chairman David Carson and School Board member Lori Vaught were reappointed for another term.

> Budget From page 1

By valerie [email protected]

> Challenger From page 1

government taxing authority.Kwiatkowski, age 50, is a re-

tired USAF Lieutenant Colonel. She lives on a farm in Shenan-doah County near Jackson with her husband and three of her four children. She has a Ph.D. in World Politics from Catholic University of America.

From May 2002 to February 2003, she served in the Penta-gon’s Near East and South Asia directorate (NESA). While at NESA, she wrote a series of anonymous articles, “Insider Notes from the Pentagon.” Kwi-atkowski was in her office inside the Pentagon when it was at-

tacked on September 11, 2001. Kwiatkowski is primarily

noted for openly and publicly denouncing what she sees as a corrupting political influence on the course of military intelli-gence leading up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

She has taught classes at the

University of Maryland and The American Public University System. She also has served as an adjunct faculty member in Political Science at James Madi-son University.


Democrat Vies For Nomination In 6th DistrictDr. Andrew Bard Schmook-

ler, 65, is vying for the 6th Dis-trict Democratic nomination in May to run against Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte in 2012.

Dr. Schmookler is a writer living in Shenandoah County ,two miles from West Vir-ginia near Orkney Springs. He spends time writing a blog at nonsoblind.org. He is married with three children.

“I feel that what I’m fighting for is the soul of America. …It is a grave crisis this country now faces,” says Dr. Schmookler.

He is using friends for his campaign staff and admits that “There’s no way I’m going to match [the funds] that the in-cumbent can raise.” He’ll get his message out hoping to level the playing field and making “Da-vid’s slingshot a match for his [Goodlatte] Goliath’s sword.”

He said his campaign is “deeply committed to truthful-ness” something he believes is lacking in politics today. He says he is not a generic Democrat. He has an “unusual and power-ful message.”

“The country is acting like it is normal politics when forces that we’re not confronting ac-tually are degrading it.” His campaign theme reflects his message - “Let’s talk about the elephant in the room - It is a cri-sis, an emergency.” Schmookler said he feels “duty bound to do everything that’s in my power to protect the country from going down the tubes.”

He plans to bring out Good-latte’s untruths about telling constituents he’s on their side when he is not. Schmookler called Goodlatte “a loyal foot soldier of the Republican army.”

Schmookler is running as a

Democrat because he believes that the “Democratic Party is the only thing that can possibly protect us from the destructive force that the Republican Party has become.”

When it comes to voter apa-thy there are two kinds said Schmookler. One just doesn’t care and the other feels that any-thing they do won’t matter. His job will be to make them un-derstand that the current state of politics is robbing them and their children of a future. Oth-ers feel “a form of despair.” They need to rise up and demand a government with integrity. “We’ve seen that on the streets of Cairo [Egypt] and Madison

[Wisconsin],” said Schmookler. Dr. Schmookler has con-

ducted radio conversations, au-thored many books and makes regular speaking appearances.

He studied as an undergradu-ate at Harvard University, where he graduated summa cum laude in Social Relations in 1967. Schmookler went on to earn his doctorate in 1977 at the Uni-versity of California at Berkeley and The Graduate Theological Union, in a program specially created to accommodate his comprehensive theory of hu-man history.

In 1984, Dr. Schmookler was awarded the Erik H. Erikson Prize by the International So-ciety for Political Psychology. And in 1985, he was selected by Esquire Magazine as “one of the men and women under forty who are changing the nation.” The International Biographical Centre (of Cambridge, Eng-land) selected him, in 1999, as one the “Outstanding People of the Twentieth Century”.


Andrew Bard Schmookler

I am there to help them.”Mike Powell who ran as a Republican in the

2010 city council elections took the stage and railed on the $300,000 for another study of an Elmwood Park revamp. He called it a “boondog-gle – a project that wastes time and money.”

Later Lea and Bestpitch countered that argu-ment saying the $1.5 million held for the more costly architectural and engineering plans was re-duced to $300,000 for plans for the entire park.

Bestpitch thanked the Tea Party members for holding their event in Elmwood Park.

Following the speeches that ranged from wind turbines to government overreach elected officials got their chance to ask questions. Senator Smith asked Roanoke Tea Party President Chip Tarbut-ton if he’d like to see him reintroduce the bill re-quiring that legislators have the states budget to review 72-hours before a vote on it. Tarbutton responded with an unhesitating “yes.”

Senator Edwards is a favorite target of the Roa-noke Tea Party, as their website makes clear. He defended his “no” vote on Smith’s bill saying, “We already have in the senate a procedural resolution

that is put in place every four years that the budget bill must be on our desk 72-hours before we vote on it … and it is on the Internet.”

That didn’t satisfy Aldridge who asked the au-dience if they thought they crammed the budget through as fast as they could so they could head home. He enamored the crowd saying, “They’re afraid we’ll find something wrong with it before it has already passed … we don’t buy it … it’s a way to hide what’s going on and we’re tired of it.”

Later Senators Smith and Edwards were in a private discussion with Smith doing most of the talking. Both were smiling and when asked Ed-wards said, “He wanted to see some compromise on redistricting but I haven’t seen any specifics from the other side.”

The current Senate redistricting plan puts Sen-ator Smith in Senator Steve Newman’s district. Smith said with a smile that he was “flexible” and with children grown was able to live anywhere. It won’t be long before citizens know whether Smith will need to call the moving company.

> Tea Party From page 1


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170 of Roanoke’s Youngest Athletes Complete Marathon in Long Form

One hundred and seventy of Roanoke’s youngest marathon-ers completed the final mile of the Second Annual YMCA Kids Marathon on Sat., April 16, in conjunction with the National College Blue Ridge Marathon.

The children completed 25.2 miles on their own prior to April 16, finishing the last mile together on race day. The group was scheduled to begin their last mile at the Kirk Family YMCA, threading through the streets of downtown Roanoke, and finish-ing at the Blue Ridge Marathon Finish line behind the Taubman Museum. The severe weather; however, forced organizers to take the race indoors to the Kirk Avenue YMCA. Younger chil-dren used the first floor gymna-sium, while older children used the upper level track.

“The rain made it pretty soggy outside, but it didn't dampen our spirits,” said Bratic. “Parents and volunteers lined both the Y gym and the upstairs track to provide ample cheering for our young runners.”

All participants received a race shirt, race number bib, fin-isher’s medal and goodie bag.

Perhaps due to the predicted severe thunderstorms and pos-

sibility of tornados, about 50 of the 220 registered children did not show up on race day to com-plete the final mile.

The non-timed, non-com-petitive event was sponsored by Chick-Fil-A. Registration, which began in January, was open to local students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Students from nearly every local elemen-tary school participated in the event with large groups coming from Troutville and Bonsack elementary schools and Trinity Lutheran Church, according to YMCA of the Roanoke Valley Communications Director Kim Bratic.

“The YMCA Kids Marathon is designed to challenge, moti-

vate and inspire future runners. It’s a great way to encourage kids to develop a healthy lifestyle when it is most important,” said YMCA of Roanoke Valley’s Ex-ecutive Director Cal Johnson.

Following the marathon, the Kirk Family YMCA hosted the Y’s Healthy Kids Day from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. The free event was open to the community and included an inflatable obstacle course, games, swimming and giveaways. Despite the nasty weather, about 650 parents and children participated – an in-crease of about 100 over last year’s attendance.

By Laura L. [email protected]

Despite the dismal weather, more than 690 runners spent Saturday morning taking in some of the most beautiful views in Roanoke as part of the second annual National Col-lege Blue Ridge Marathon last Saturday. The 26.2 mile race, regarded as “America’s Tough-est Road Marathon, is estimated to have brought between 1,200 and 1,600 people to the Roa-noke Valley, as either runners or spectators. About 400 volun-teers helped with the event. The runners hailed from 37 states and Germany and ranged in age from 12-years-old to 64-years-old, according to race records.

This year’s race was first threatened by the federal budget deadlock and possible govern-ment shutdown. Shortly after the government reached a bud-get, local meteorologists began forecasting rain. That forecast was made worse when news of thunderstorms and torrential downpours, along with possible tornados, were predicted.

An estimated 368 people who registered for the event did not show up on race day. On aver-age, about 10 percent of regis-trants typically do not show up, accounting for nearly 106 peo-ple. It is likely that the remaining 262 racers did not show up as a result of the weather conditions.

On Friday, organizers adjust-ed the course, eliminating part of the Roanoke Greenway route near Wasena Park. The changes affected miles 22-25 of the 26.2-mile course.

The race was cancelled at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday due to thunder and the [34] runners who had not yet finished were pulled off the course, according to Pete Eshelman, race co-chair and the Roanoke Regional Part-nerships Director of Outdoor Branding.

The runners competed in a variety of ways, participating in either the full marathon or half marathon or as member of a walking team or a five person relay team. An additional 170 local students competed in the YMCA Kids Marathon on race day.

Fourth place marathon finish-er and local cross country coach Edward Dickenson was pleased to have broken three hours (2:57:18) at this first attempt at

this marathon. Dickenson spent seven months training for the race, which included three 10k races, one 10 mile race, and two half-marathons.

“Once the race started, I didn’t notice the rain too much except for the deep puddles and small creeks on the roads; however, you could feel the extra weight of your shoes and clothes in the later miles of the race,” said Dickenson. “Only four of us broke three hours for the day, and the weather made every fin-isher work extra hard.”

Roanoker Nancy Simmons (who works for the marathon’s title sponsor National College) and her husband David ran the half-marathon. The couple began training for this race in January.

“The rain actually kept me cool,” said Nancy Simmons. “While I was training, I found myself getting fatigued more quickly in the heat. My stamina was better in the rain.” The Sim-mons’ both finished the half marathon with a time of 2:59:19. Nancy credits the cooler weath-er with having beaten her 2010 time by eight minutes.

One elderly marathon run-ner collapsed just feet from the finish line and was taken, by ambulance, to a local hospital. Although he appeared unre-sponsive at the site, race orga-nizers say he had a heart attack and is alive but remains in the hospital.

Proceeds from the Blue Ridge Marathon will benefit the FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway. FRIENDS is a non-profit, volunteer organization that is dedicated to preserving and protecting the Blue Ridge Parkway.

“Our goal is to put Roanoke on the outdoor sports map,” said

Eshelman. “It is a long process and it won’t happen overnight, but the vision of Roanoke being a top outdoor destination is one step closer.”

A half marathon awards cer-emony was held at noon in the Taubman Museum. A full mara-thon awards ceremony was held at 2 p.m.

By 5 p.m., when the Roanoke Twilight Criterium, a semi and professional road cycling race began two blocks from the fin-ish line, the rain had cleared and the temperatures had dropped.

Many runners and specta-tors joined friends and family members to celebrate Saturday evening with music and drinks at various venues in downtown Roanoke.

“Combining events like the National College Blue Ridge Marathon, the YMCA Kids Marathon, Down by Downtown Music Festival, and the Roanoke Twilight Criterium into a pack-aged weekend allows partici-pants and spectators to be part of more than just one single event,” said Eshelman. “They get to experience Roanoke in all its glory.”

Twenty-eight-year-old Fan-wood, NJ resident Michael Dixon took first place in the men’s full marathon with a time of 2:41:27. Twenty-six-year-old Arlington resident Nicole Terry took first place in the woman’s full mara-thon with a time of 3:19:49.

Twenty-two-year-old Spotsyl-vania resident Andrew Kirk took first place in the men’s half mara-thon with a time of 1:24:25. Thir-ty-five-year-old Roanoke resident Sarah Glenn took first place in the woman’s half marathon with a time of 1:32:55.

Blue Ridge Marathon Runners Set New Records Despite Dismal Weather


Photo by Laura L. Neff-Henderson

Young marathon participants warm-up before the race.

On the 29th sixth and seventh graders will head to adjacent horse trails near the campground and older students will work on the Gorge River Trail that starts at a bridge on the parkway. “These trails haven’t been touched in years, they just don’t have the manpower. They are really excited [by Project Faith],” said Lilley. Trail maintaining, brush clear-ing and the painting of park benches are on the agenda.

Parents will help out and in some cases, chuck-les Lilley, they are asked to back off and let the kids do some of the work, “because they are so eager.” For the most part Project Faith has been blessed with good weather over the past ten years during its annual day of volunteerism.

For many of the younger children it’s the first time they’ve ever pitched in for a worthy cause, a good life lesson notes Lilley, who is also a mental health therapist. “There’s not enough [volunteer] service going on,” she adds.

Students were encouraged to send out at

least15-20 letters before Project Faith, all part of the effort to raise $150K for the school. “We feel very confident we’re going to make that goal this year,” said Lilley. “Its [part] of our operating bud-get.” Corporate sponsorships will raise another $25,000, with company names going on the back of Project Faith t-shirts and brochures. Letters ask-ing for pledges have gone out across the country and internationally in some cases. Even with the sluggish economy and tight family budgets, Lilley expected that fundraising would hit its target.

School administrators toyed with the idea of splitting Project Faith into several days this year, since it’s become so popular with a growing stu-dent body and adult volunteers. “It’s a good prob-lem to have,” said Lilley of an undertaking they began planning for last August. (See faithchris-tian-school.com for more on Project Faith or to make a donation.)

> Faith From page 1

City Takes Hard Look at GEM Electric Get-Arounds

Just before Monday’s 2:00 p.m. council meet-ing, in front of the Municipal Building, Dominion Dodge was demonstrating two electric vehicles that could be used by the parking police, said Lt. Hart-man of the Roanoke City Police Department.

Mayor David Bowers, in passing caught me tak-ing pictures and well, you know our Mayor’s camera shyness.

Don Walker, Account Manager from Bedford, said that the car runs 30 miles before recharging and can reach a speed of up to 25 mph. It plugs into any 110-volt outlet but a 15 AMP is preferred. They come in four and six passenger models.

The parking police are being moved from the Po-lice Department to Billing and Collections in fiscal year 2012.


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I recently had a series of hardware malfunctions that left me intermittently

without my smartphone for sev-eral weeks. While I frequently profess to NOT being one of “those people” who is attached to this device like a chain-smok-er to a cigarette – a bit of self-evaluation gave me a slightly different per-spective. But something even more interesting happened while I wasn’t constantly twitching from the vibration of an incoming email, text, facebook message, tweet or phone call. I started noticing – with heightened awareness – an unfortunate cultural phenom-enon. Smartphones are making us dumb.

My first disclaimer is to admit that I have almost certainly been guilty of all of these behaviors at one time or another. My second disclaimer is that I suspect I will again be guilty of these same things in the future. However, if awareness is the first step to im-proving – I’m on my way.

Have you ever noticed a cou-ple (or a group of friends for that matter) having dinner at a restaurant – yet they are so busy

on their phones – they hardly speak? It makes me sad. Cer-tainly they have something to interact about – or they wouldn’t be there. How about someone

on their phone -- so en-gaged with a conversa-tion about their impor-tant charity event that they run over the sweet elderly woman in the grocery store? When did being an “important humanitarian” become more important than

being human?Perhaps it’s the writer in me –

or perhaps it’s my innate human desire to connect on a meaning-ful level – but it seems to me the art of communication is getting lost with this technological ad-vance. The subtleties of human expression are lost -- reduced to statements that can be made in 140 characters or less. It seems that excellence is being replaced with ease. The concept of investing forethought, vision, strategy and planning seems to have been replaced with the notion that speed of delivery is more important than accuracy and intention.

Another interesting – and stressful – concept reared its

head during this time of “discon-nection”. Unrealistic expecta-tions. We have become a society that expects to have an instant response and immediate answer to everything. At first, I was along for the ride – scurrying to apologize for not being able to produce work at the speed others determined necessary (whether they were paying cli-ents or just demanding people). After staying up nearly all night to make up for what seemed to be lost productivity – three very critical thoughts hit me.

First, while everything seems to have become a crisis and ev-erything seems to be important – very few things actually are. Second, the more “connected” you are to technology – the more likely you are to be “dis-connected” from what it means to be human. Third, I think I am actually smarter when I don’t have my smartphone.

While it’s not realistic – as a business owner – to completely reject the conveniences of this technology – I am grateful for the lessons learned during those weeks.

Smartphones and Being Smart

Stephanie Koehler

By Stephanie koehlerstephaniekoehler@cox,net

I’ve been around the writer’s block a time or two. Pretty much every

early morning for some years now, I’ve plopped down at the keyboard and waited for ideas to become thoughts to become words, and for my hands, the executors in this process, to typeset the related sentences and paragraphs on the digital page in front of me. Something usually emerges, at least a base-on-balls, for the blog or for this column or some other destination.

I tell you this because, as I sit here typing two-handedly in the middle of March, I am without traction, a deer caught in the headlights of approaching dead-lines. What I see bearing down on me in two weeks I am sure will provide ample personal ex-perience about which to write. The twin problems with writing about this particular impend-ing adventure are: one, that it is wholly a ME experience; and, while I’m not shy (as you know) about telling personal stories, I am reluctant to wallow in my own tribulations on a public wailing wall.

Secondly, and most signifi-cantly, I won’t be able to write about this episode in my life at all—at least not in the usual, morning-habitual, automatic

pilot sort of pattern to which my head-hands-and-eyes have grown so accustomed.

The hand part of the equation is the issue. One of mine is go-ing to take a vacation. We don’t know how long it will be away.

Let me be quick to say that this is, at least from the sur-geon’s point of view, a routine

outpatient procedure. The “basal joint” of the thumb is a common site for wear-and-tear ar-thritis (chiefly in wom-en.) Mine is worn and torn sufficiently to need repair in such a way that (they don’t quite prom-ise me) I will not whine and whimper quite so

much after it heals up. I imag-ine a time when I will be able to do buttons and play the guitar again. (I’m sure, though, with a written excuse from my doctor, that I will never be able again to do the dishes again. Ever. Never ever.)

It’s the course over months of healing and recovery that is the great unknown. To someone for whom (relatively painless) typ-ing has become a kind of voice, I’ll be speechless for weeks—maybe months. And it is finally sinking in how convenient and efficient it has been to be func-tionally bilaterally symmetrical in all other realms of daily life for lo these many years.

As the future fiddler-crab of Goose Creek, I am appreciat-ing that any day this April won’t find business-as-usual here. I will be limited. I will be depen-dent. I will be the sound of one hand typing.

It has taken me years of pain to bring me to chose this major detour, blundering by a sort of orthopedic forced march off the calendar of predictability into the potholed territory of rehabilitation. Think about it. When does one decide it is con-venient to take on the world single-handed for a few months: during the long season of wood-cutting and stove-tending, or during the six months of grass mowing, weed-whacking and gardening?

So here in middle-March, knowing what lies ahead, I’ll use the chain saw for the last time until Fall, getting in enough dry split wood while I still am able, to last until June. I’ll put the screens in today, be sure the mowers are ready for her to op-erate, and do what I can to get this year’s garden ready, even though this season, the hoeing, raking and such will be beyond my reach, so to speak.

I can at least meet writing deadlines early—the ones I can plan for—like this column for April 22. Since January, I’ve been training my speech-to-text soft-ware to clumsily dictate what I want to say during the handi-capped season. I will confess that I find this immensely frus-trating. It’s like trying to leave an essay on somebody’s answering machine. I’m doing good to make a complete sentence when a recorder of any sort is listen-ing. The words that sprint so effortlessly through my fingers stumble all over themselves as they exit my mouth, like grey-hounds in hip-waders.

So I will be briefly pitiful and worthless around here, a short-term servant of handicaptivity. But I’m betting that, like physical therapy patients I have worked with after this very surgery, I will wish I’d done this thing years ago. Meanwhile, I’ll find ingenious unidextrous ways to get up and do what needs to be done. And in May and June, find my column right here--after the sound of the beep.

The Sound of One Hand Typing

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 | Bill Braton | [email protected]

Fred First

Fred First / Floyd County VABooks: slowroadhome.com

Blog: fragmentsfromfloyd.comtwitter.com/fred1st

http://about.me/fredfirst

Star-Sentinel Crossword Local Crossword for 04/22/2011

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20

21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

32 33 34 35

36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43

44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

53 54 55 56

57 58 59

60 61 62 63 64

65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

73 74 75 76

77 78 79 80

www.CrosswordWeaver.com

ACROSS

1 Shade tree 4 Fast movers located

in Vinton on Parker Lane.

7 Chinese seasoning 10 Cooking fat 13 Pen brand 14 Seafood 15 Number of times

Salem was attacked in the Civil War.

16 Condemn 17 Mislead 19 A well loved city

matriarch. 20 August (abbr.) 21 Tallest mountain

nearest to roanoke salem and vinton area and holds the broadcast towers for our television stations.

22 Posttraumatic stress

disorder 24 We smooth the

wrinkles out - ---- specialty.

27 Poem of praise 29 Am not 32 Group of trees 34 Marvel 35 Track 36 Electroencephalograp

h (abbr.) 37 Herons 40 Past 41 Which local business

says 'If water runs through it we've got it!'

42 Epoch 44 Back On The ____ is

a kid's consignment shop in Tanglewood Mall.

48 Essay of original research

50 Government worker 53 Hurt

54 Eastern Standard Time

55 Eulogy 57 Adolescent 58 Teaspoon (abbr.) 59 Channel 15 around

here. 60 Bunsen burner 62 Channel 38 around

here. 65 United Parcel Service 67 Snacked 69 Giant (2 wds.) 73 That girl 74 Eye infection 75 Beverage 76 Lavatory 77 Spots 78 Popeye's yes 79 Cook 80 Dynamite

DOWN

1 Recede

2 Fib 3 Metric weight unit 4 Three 5 Horse game 6 Visionary 7 I want my ___ 8 Purloin 9 Sheep-like animal

10 6th century B.C. prophet

11 Note of debt 12 Lumber 18 Onto 23 A natural reason for

Roanoke? 24 Compass point 25 North American Indian 26 Scrap 27 IOU part 28 Dislike intensely 30 North northeast 31 X 33 December 34 Foot parts 38 Time zone 39 __ Lanka 43 Viper 44 Gnawer 45 Genius 46 Dairy product types 47 Clark __ (Superman) 49 Sixth sense 50 Second month (abbr.) 51 Serving of corn 52 Genetic code 56 Amiss 58 Frayed 61 Rocket builders 62 Public radio in

roanoke va. 63 Look 64 Doctor's picture 65 North American nation 66 Doctoral degree 68 Peeper 70 Sandwich 71 Cation 72 Received

By Don WaterfieldFind the answers online: NewsRoanoke.com

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

Earlier this spring, sci-ence writer Connie Bar-low sent me an e-mail

about an awe-inspiring scientific discovery. Scientists in Uruguay had stumbled across the first ex-ample of a photosynthet-ic organism living inside a vertebrate’s cells! Just as the nervous system of an embryonic salamander began to develop, a tiny algal species bloomed inside the amphibian’s cell membranes like little green flames next to its countless mitochondria. Usually, the immune systems of vertebrates ban such close in-terspecific relationships so this discovery seemed to challenge – once again – the dogma about the integrity of species. Here was a living green flame to “solarize” an otherwise common salaman-der, revealing what looks like the early steps in a co-evolutionary dance for two far-flung species.

The main characters in our Uruguayan drama: the spotted salamander, Ambystoma macu-latum; the single-celled alga, Oo-phila ambystomatis. The stage: the tiny spaces in the amphibian’s cells adjacent to their multitudes of mitochondria. That space is key to understanding the pos-sible outcomes of the play. Mi-tochondria are tiny organelles where cellular respiration oc-curs. These cytoplasmic power-houses convert simple sugars to an energy-rich compound called ATP. Thus, the viridescence in the salamander’s cells makes

sense. The flare is a bloom of al-gae, probably drawn to a release of nitrogen-rich waste from the embryo’s cells, that provides – in turn – oxygen and carbohydrates needed by the mitochondria

to “burn” glucose into ATP.

Such intimacy be-tween an autotroph (sugar-producer) and a heterotroph (sugar-eater) had been noted in invertebrates such as corals and sea slugs, but never before inside a vertebrate’s cells. So

what does this discovery of little green flames and solar salaman-ders teach us about modern-day biodiversity?

The lesson is a simple one. Our cells disclose a 3.5-billion-year-old framework wrestled from fortunate, but unplanned, reciprocity in the madcap chem-istry of ancient times. Darwin himself encapsulated the awe-someness of this lesson by stat-ing, humbly, “There is grandeur in this view of life.” Furthermore, evolution moves forward by tak-ing surprising twists and turns as Earth’s 30 million species dance together on our whirling blue-green mote.

At this point, we must ques-tion the meaning of that other-wise ineffable term in biology, species. Biologists usually em-ploy a seemingly straightfor-ward definition: a species is a population of similar organisms that can interbreed successfully. One of the problems with this

definition is that it equates spe-cies with a single behavior, i.e., reproduction. But think about all other activities in which the individuals of a given species engage during their lifetimes: for example, all the wondrous vari-ety of race, culture, and creed for our own species, Homo sapiens. One species of human, one spe-cies of dandelion, one species of monarch butterfly, one spe-cies of northern red oak, and so forth, adding up to 30 million different kinds of life forms on Earth, each with a range of ge-netic diversity ready to go off like a cocked pistol to interact with its brethren species in the economy of nature. So how can we reckon the merits of a species just by its reproductive success? As it turns out, the word, spe-cies, may be as indefinable as life itself. Like the 1964 admission of Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart about pornography, we may know a species when we see it, but that’s about the limit of our concreteness.

With this discovery in Uru-guay, we see that species are dynamic entities that may or may not cohabit with others in the most intimate ways. This discovery forces us to answer, philosophically, “What is an in-dividual?” In other words, is the salamander an individual or not? If it’s made up of salamander cells and algal cells, is it then two organisms? If they’re two organ-isms at first, but later their inter-relationship becomes essential, then are they considered a single organism? By extrapolation, are we humans seven billion indi-viduals or seven billion commu-nities since our mitochondria, originally, were separate and dis-tinct organisms? As a transgenic animal, am I an “I” or a “we”?

As researchers Timothy Allen and Thomas Hoekstra wrote in their 1992 book, Toward a Uni-fied Ecology, “nature is continu-ous.” What will become of this viridescent salamander is any-one’s guess. Any perceived pro-gression in evolution is always viewed with the twenty-twenty certainty of hindsight. But you can bet that this kind of interspe-cific “hanky panky” is not exclu-sive to this relationship, but may instead be a tenet for life itself as it struggles to survive any way it can. Green flames and solar sala-manders are but two awe-inspir-ing colorful combinations in life’s palette. They also represent two reasons why I’m so exhilarated by life’s messy exuberance, part of Darwin’s “entangled bank” of discovery.

H. Bruce Rinker, PhD

H. Bruce Rinker, Ph.D.Ecologist, Educator, and Explorer

[email protected]

Green Flames and Solar Salamanders:Evidence of Evolution At-Large

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“Push! Come on, puuusssssh; keep…. it.…mov-ing.” Thomas, Jim, and I strain at the bumper of the "Bandier-ante," our truck. If we can just get it over this little rise we’ve got it made. For the last two days we’ve been traveling in a vehicle with a non-functional charging system and therefore a consistently dead battery. Unable to find a mechanic to successfully diagnose the problem in the small towns through which we’ve passed, we’ve been charging the bat-tery on the fly by jump start-ing it from other vehicles as we go.

We press on to the town of Santa Theresa, where the Ger-man expat Thomas assures us there is a mechanic who can fix the problem: "German Bosch trained!" he proudly assert. “It’s the diode!” he ex-claims in that thick accent, every time the subject arises. He pronounces it like “coyote” and Jim and I find this funny beyond reason.

This part of Brazil, Espirito Santos, was colonized by Eu-ropean immigrants in the late nineteenth century. Prior to that, during the colonial peri-od, the Botocudo Indians held the Portuguese at bay in this mountainous, verdant region. By the time the Italian, Ger-man, and Swiss immigrants arrived, the native people had moved westward, and the Eu-ropeans settled in this beauti-ful part of the world for the long term. Like immigrants throughout history, these folks were looking for oppor-tunity, a new lease on life, es-cape from relatives, that sort of thing. The new land suited them well.

“It must be over 1000 me-ters high…” Jim remarks, nod-ding toward one of the many soaring spires of black granite found in this province. Such monoliths jut from the Mata Atlantica, the lush forest that once covered all the coastal parts of southern Brazil, and lend an other worldliness to the scene. Along with the granite spires and Mata are expansive coffee fincas- plan-tations- with occasional rows of banana plants sown like embroidery within the greater quilt of coffee plants.

We’ve come here on a good-

will mission and to fly para-gliders. "Voo livre" -free flight in Portueguese- is popular in this big country; world class paragliding sites abound. Ear-lier today we found ourselves flying at a stunning place called Biaxu Guandu with sev-eral ever-ebullient Brazilian pilots as well as a Swiss and Polish one too.

My headlamp shines with a feeble glow up under the rear of the truck -so much for the hope of no more roadside med-itations- as I tighten the wire securing the muffler. Steve, our enthusiastic Brit driver reminds me that this one is a bonus; the truck will run fine without its muffler. Neverthe-less, we’ll try to hang on to it if we can. That task completed, I crawl out from beneath the ve-hicle and brush my hands on my pants. Meanwhile, Thomas is engaged in an animated conversation –he’s the only one of us possessing a work-ing knowledge of Portuguese- with a weathered-faced coffee farmer who is perched on his diesel tractor pulled up next to the Bandierante. The trac-tor shakes with internal com-bustion, and from it jumper cables run like umbilical cords to the truck, our battery thirst-ily taking on juice.

Underway again, we laugh at the ridiculousness of our transportation situation. “It’s the story of my life,” I wail with all the drama I can muster. The closer we get to Santa Theresa, the stronger are the echos of Europe, and as we finally pull into town it is easy to imag-ine that we are in the foothills

of the Italian Alps. Ahhh, it’s good to be here. Shouldering our dusty packs, we shuffle into the guesthouse just off the cobbled main street. Steve has stayed here before and is ac-quainted with Merita, the pro-prietor. She immobilizes him with a smile and a hug fit for a long-lost son. This is Brazil; reservedness need not apply.

Our new friends are tak-ing us on a nighttime tour of the town, padding the stone streets and crossing the neat, moonlit village square. We slip into one of the 100-year-old sa-loons, whose floor is laid with black and white tiles which are cracked and unevenly settled and deeply worn from a cen-tury of devoted passage there-on. The walls are dark wooden

panels between masonry col-umns that stand stoically at intervals. The place breathes with the colorful history of the people who have lived their lives in the comfortable dolce vita of towns like this one. I sit and admire the walls plastered with decades-old notices, and I sip my passion fruit juice, suco de maracuja. I leave to my more intrepid companions the potent cachaca, the famed Brazilian sugar-cane rum.

The streets are silent as we head back to the pousada. We pass the unmistakably Italian Igreja Matriz, an old church complete with cupola and roundels. Tomorrow we’ll get the truck fixed, visit the hum-mingbird museum, and let our hosts show us the local para-gliding sites. The day after that we’ll head to the Swiss-settled town of Santa Leopoldina, one of the earliest European colo-nies of Espirito Santos.

But that’s tomorrow. To-night I dream of endless roads through colorfully shaded lands, a rich heritage, and the smiles and laughter of the kind and generous Brazilians.

Troubles and Joy On the Road to Santa Theresa

Contact John Robinson [email protected]

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From years age: Herself is a bit tired of mort-gage banking and

wants a new job. She would love to be an animal curator. She so wishes to be involved with animals that she walks around the house practicing animal sounds. For example, she will be wiping the counter and without warning, lift her head and bay at the track lighting, "Whooooo. Whooooo." A wolf call. A bit unnerving. It’s a combination of a primal canine mat-ing howl and The Lit-tle Engine Who Could.

"`Hoo-de-hoot'. That's the Great Horned Owl, Gahvin.

`Hoo-de-hoot'. Now that's the Barn owl.

`Hoo-de-hoot'. And that's the rare Southern Owl of the North, Gahvin. See?"

"Honey, if that's truly how they sound, there may be a fall-off in mating this sea-son."

Still, her squirrel chatter is not too bad actually. It is gen-erally rehearsed from our bed at first light, since that's when squirrels wake up. "They're out looking for nuts, Gahv." "Well, I know where they can find one if they can make it into the bedroom," I grum-ble. Her squirrel chatter and crow calls are quite the envy of the neighborhood.

When she cuts loose with her raccoon trill, it is pure melody for those of you who are interested. This may be heard from our bedroom window 11 PM to 3AM; you will recall that raccoons are nocturnal.( I wish they weren't.) Her wolf call is coming along but her `Rrrrr-ribbitt' practiced in the bath-tub, I mean, it is a frog call after all; (frogs-water, get it?) needs work as she would be the first to admit. So she practices; takes 8-10 baths per day, has developed a

patchy skin fungus and my water bill is up. But she tells me its all well worth it. "You can't put a price on a good `Rrrrrribbitt', Gahv."

I'm sure she is right. We go to the huge ware-

house store, Sams. I get the cart and move to the middle

of the warehouse and do ever-enlarging concentric circles. I get dizzy and sit down hard near the Cocoa Puffs. "Your middle ear acting up, Gahvin? You have an attack every time we come here."

She leaves me to go pick something up and hollers over her shoulder, "Get me some gravy!" I've been here before. They've got 8 million varieties of gravy. Minimum. I yell to her, "What kind of gravy?" Her voice trails back to me,

"The kind I want."Of course, there's only one

type of kitty litter she will buy and its three stories up on a rack, little clouds drifting by the pallets up there. Must set'm in place with a crane. Sign says: Don't climb after the merchandize. "Is this a big problem around here?" I mumble to myself staring straight up. "People bring in grappling hooks, pinions and oxygen masks to buy kitty lit-ter? Small tents to pitch for the night half way up the side of the rack?" Not me, Clyde. I'm going to risk my life so a cat can doo-doo in confor-mity with upper middle class expectations? Right. Nope, I much prefer a natural death.

A Husband’s Diary – Entry #2177

Lucky Garvin

Contact Lucky [email protected]

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OK, kids! Time for a geography pop quiz: where in the world are the following cities, and

what do they have in common?1. An African city, brutally poor, home

to 700,000 people, the vast ma-jority of whom are Black; 2. A Latin-American city known for fashion and culture, 2.5MM people, two-thirds of whom are Hispanic; 3. An Asian city on the Pacific Rim, extremely cos-mopolitan, 1MM people, even-ly mixed between Asians and non-Asians; 4. A small Euro-pean city, just 300,000 people, overwhelmingly White.

Give up? Here's a hint. What these vastly different cities have in common is that they are all in the United States. Does that help? The cities are 1. Detroit; 2. Miami, 3. San Francisco and 4. Min-neapolis.

The 2010 Census has just been pub-

lished. And if he could read the results, Norman Rockwell wouldn't recognize this eclectic place:

- We've grown 10% in the last 10 years, to about 309MM people

- Across the country, 72% of the population is White, 16% is Hispanic, 12% is Black and about 5% is Asian. That's huge news: Hispanics are now the largest minority group across the country and in more than half of all metro centers. Not just in Texas and California, all

over. - Meanwhile, the Black per-

centage is falling in major cit-ies like New York, Cleveland and St. Lou-is. Some African-American leaders are worried that their constituents did not fully participate in filling out the Census (despite a massive marketing campaign aimed at them) and now will receive less than their fair share of federal funds.

- There are many other groups, (3MM Native Americans, a half million Pacific Islanders...) and fully 6% of the country considers itself "Other".

- Our two most noteworthy cities are complete hodgepodges. In New York City, 72% of Staten Island is White ver-sus only 27% in the Bronx. Los Ange-les is only 8% Black, but in East LA, that number is 50%.

- Cedar Rapids is 85% WhiteYou can play along! The data is avail-

able online in a sortable, searchable format. Just in time to give you hours of springtime-Friday-on-the-job-time-wasting pleasure! Go ahead, but beware, it's addictive.

Welcome to the United States of Diver-sity: http://factfinder2.census.gov/main.html.

Welcome to the United States of Diversity

Mike Keeler

Contact Mike [email protected]

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Page 6 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 4/22/11 - 4/28/11 newsRoanoke.com celebrating easter

Westminster Presbyterian Church invites the communityto join their Holy Week services:

April 21 (Maundy Thursday) at 7:00 p.m.A service of scripture and hymns focusing on eventsfrom the last supper to Christ’s burial.

Good Friday from noon to 3:00 pmThe church sanctuary will be open to the public forindividual meditation and prayer.All are welcome to come and go as your schedules permit.Written materials will be available to assist your meditation.

Easter morning at 6:30 a.m.Celebrating an Easter sunrise service atCedar Lawn Memorial Cemetery on Cove Road.

Easter morning at 10:30 a.m.A joy �lled worship service in the church sanctuary.

Read more about the church at www.westpca.org.Westminster is located on Peters Creek Road

next to Duncan Acura Car Dealership

ESTMINSTERPresbyterian Church in America

REMEMBERING EASTERMaundy Thursday Service: April 21st, 7PM

Special guest will be Norm Arrington who will present a Biblical monologue of the "Last Supper" in conjunction with Communion. Childcare will

be provided.Good Friday “Journey to the Cross”:

April 22nd, 6PM-8PMA come and go event for the entire family to

experience the “Stations of the Cross.”

Easter Sunday, April 24th:Services at 9AM and 11AM

Sunday School for infants through 6th gradeduring both services.

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Easter Blessings

to You and Your Family!

From the staff at the Roanoke

Star-Sentinel

Join us.....for the Easter Drama

“A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS”

Friday, April 22 & Saturday, April 23 at 7:30PMand the Easter Sunrise Service on Sunday April 24th�ese events are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

You will not want to miss them!

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Our Lady of Nazareth

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Contact us:540-774-0066

The Happy Chef by Leigh Sackett Basil and Tomato Baked Eggs

When I think of what to prepare for Easter

breakfast or lunch or dinner I obviously feel the desire for the meals to be really special and memorable; so I begin to search through recipes. It is then that I am struck by the feeling that there is nothing on this earth I could prepare that would even give half a measure to the magni-tude and glory of such a day. But instead of feeling frustrated with this realization, I feel blessed. For this is what we should feel – in-significant in the light of things, yet so grateful to be loved and chosen for such a wondrous gift as God’s unlimited Love.

On Easter morning I get up early and watch the sunrise when the weather allows; it al-ways seems so much bigger than life and I am overwhelmed at the thought that it exists so that I may have life. I serve my family more of the gifts that sustain our lives – eggs with fresh basil and tomatoes – good things brought forth from the earth. I laugh at the fact that my children con-template how a giant bunny gets in the house to leave candy. And I take those children dressed in their pastel spring best (as my

mother took me) to the church where we worship the giver of all gifts - the most important gift be-ing His very life and Love.

May you too know that Peace this year as you celebrate Easter.2 Tbs. butter2 Tbs. milk6 eggs, room temperature2 Tbs. shallot, minced6 Tbs. tomato, deseeded and small diced2 Tbs. fresh basil, minced

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Recently, I asked a friend of my daughters what church she went to and received the following reply: "We go to 'So and So, Typical, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian Church . . .' But we only go at Christmas and Easter . . . That's the only time my Mom and Dad really take me . . ."

Ah ha, I thought - they're Christmas-Easter Christians - or "Chreastians" as they're sometimes known. It set me to thinking about such a practice.

Of course, as a Church leader I was dismayed because from my perspective those folks should be thanking both God and their lucky stars for their many blessings each week (not the least of which was this beautiful child) and offering meaningful worship to the Creator that gave them life.

But what really steamed my craw (I think I'm mixing my meta-phors there!) was the fact that this girl who is in her very formative teen years, had so little opportunity to consider and investigate the spiritual part of her nature. And believe me that part of her nature is alive, whether they know it or not.

Now I could be wrong, I suppose, I mean maybe her parents go over all sorts of spiritual considerations in their household on a regu-lar basis. But you know what - I doubt it.

Because my experience is that most of us are too caught up in the pace of modern life with all its technological "advantages" (see Stephanie Koehler's column) and "opportunities" that fill one's life to overflowing . . . But flowing into what? Mostly an overwhelmed state of busy-ness, and exhaustion that leads to complete distraction from the more important things in life.

And that's why moms and dads, in addition to their spirit / faith

starved children, need to come up for air and re-ground themselves each week at a place of worship that truly suits them. Whether that's a high energy and fast paced sort of service (Dwight Steele's won-derful church, Pilgrim Baptist comes to mind) or something more reflective and quiet (there are so many good ones.)

Helping you keep tuned to those "most important things" is a very big part of the Church's job. In fact, here's a big tip and you don't have to say you heard it from me: Being in right relationship with God tends to solve a whole lot of problems.

Maybe a good way to think about it is to consider your senses. Really, for just a moment stop and consider what it would feel like to live the rest of your life in total silence - unable to hear a sound - ever. Really, stop reading right now and imagine that reality. Cover your ears if you need to. Go on - do it for 10 seconds or longer.

Got it? Well, that's what you're missing when you don't exercise the spiritual part of your being - and just like all of your senses in-form one another, so likewise does your spiritual health influence both your mental and physical health as well. And that works in all directions. Mind, Body and Spirit - the Apostle Paul, Gandhi and many others have all had it right.

So if you're looking for a new beginning and are tired of being so inundated with the cacophony of the world, but so deaf to the more beautiful sounds of life, go on and be a "Chreastian" this week-end - and then keep on seeking to be one week in and week out. In some ways those of us who have the greater part of their "walk" before them should be considered the most blessed. So very much to discover . . . So very much true Joy ahead.

A Most Blessed Easter to All.

Stuart Revercomb is the Minister at Peace Presbyterian Church and the Publisher of this newspaper. You may reach him at [email protected].

sPorts 4/22/11 - 4/28/11 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |Page 7

Cave Spring Club Lacrosse Defeats Forest Cavaliers 17-4

After splitting off from the Southwest County lacrosse team, the Cave Spring club lacrosse team is making its mark on the high school lacrosse scene. Play-ing its home game on the upper Cave Spring field, they easily de-feated a club squad from Forest 17-4 last Wednesday afternoon.

The team is known as the Warhawks since it currently has students from Lord Botetourt and Glenvar on its roster.

Warhawks #12 Trent Settles (in black jersey) heads upfield looking for an offensive drive.

Cave Spring attacker #8 Nick Bondurant (black jersey) circles behind the Forest goal while applying pressure during a pen-alty opportunity.

Phone: 562-4596 Emergency Service:563-85751910 Loch Haven Dr. • hangingrockah.com

Some common MYTHS about cat health:-Cats are naturally healthier and more problem-free than dogs-Feline health problems come from outside and don't a�ect indoor cats-Cats will display visible signs of illness like dogs do

The truth is, cats need regular veterinary care, including annual exams and vaccina-tions, just like dogs do. And because they are naturally good at hiding signs of illness. We believe that annual exam and/or blood testing are especially important for early diagnosis of health problems.

By Bill [email protected]

Cave Spring Defeats Blacksburg 4-2 To Remain Perfect In River Ridge Baseball

Cave Spring plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to erase a 2-1 Blacksburg lead as the Knights won their third consecutive River Ridge game Tuesday afternoon at the Knights Field.

Cave Spring had little luck against Bruin left-

handed starter Ben Fraley until a misplayed grounder allowed Knight base runner Zack Ut-terback to score the tieing run in the sixth. Cave Spring followed the Bruin miscue with two hits to take the 4-2 lead, reliever Storm Furrow shut down the Blacksburg bats to pick up the win.

Below: Cave Spring catcher Jeremy Wimmer heads to the dugout as home plate umpire Ben Minton rings up a Blacksburg batter.

Knight base runner #5 Storm Furrow slides safely into sec-ond to beat the Blacksburg relay.


High school baseball and softball moved into high gear this week as teams are start-ing to establish their position in district races. In Wild Bill’s baseball Top-3, Hidden Valley remains atop the pack with an impressive 8-1 record. The Ti-tans are showing strength both on the mound and with their bats in the early going. Lord Botetourt (11-3) and Salem (8-3) hold down the other two spots. Breakthrough teams in-clude Cave Spring, with three straight River Ridge wins, and North Cross, at 10-3.

The Wild Bill softball Top-3 got a shake-up this week after William Byrd’s convinc-ing 6-0 win over defending state champion Northside. The Terriers (10-3) take over the top spot, followed by the Vikings (9-2) and newcomer Cave Spring (7-5). The Lady Knights have won four straight games by three runs or less to evidence their fortitude in the close ones.

The sizzling game of the week belonged to North Cross with their 23-0 win over Roa-noke Valley Christian. North Cross slugger Thomas Weaver belted three home runs in the game while Craig Hoelzer con-tinues to be one of the area’s leaders in batting average. In-terestingly, it was the first loss of the season for RVCS. North Cross has scored 20 or more runs in four of its wins.

It was a big day at Patrick Henry’s Gainer Field last Thursday as new Patriot head football coach Alan Fiddler was introduced to the media and PH players. Fiddler brings a coaching background that includes a seven-year stint in the college ranks at Divi-sion II Glenville State, and ten

years at the high school level at Moorefield (WV) that includes six state championships.

University of Richmond head basketball coach Chris Mooney had the Roa-noke Valley Sports Club laughing Mon-day night when he told of his early coaching duties as head coach of Division III Beaver College (now Arca-dia University). The Pennsylvania institu-tion of higher learn-ing had as its campus center-piece, Grey Tower Castle. The stone castle was popular for weddings, and Mooney took on the extra duty as wedding coordinator for those wanting to tie the knot at Grey Tower. With the success of the Spiders and his new 10-year contract, I suspect Mooney will be more likely to be throwing cash, than rice, in the future.

Hats off to everyone who braved the elements in the National College Blue Ridge Marathon Saturday. That in-cludes the volunteers and law enforcement who guided the runners. It was a true test of grit for those who completed the entire 26.2 mile course. At the height of the deluge, I had trouble just keeping my car in

the road. Now for a quick look at this

week’s mailbox:Dear Wild Bill- Can I as-

sume you don’t think Tiger Woods is a gentleman golfer? (Gene/Salem)

Answer: Makes no matter what I think. But, earlier this week a Norfolk journalist called Woods a certi-fiable jerk. Somebody

must know some-thing to certify it.

Dear Mr. Wild - When Hokie head football coach Frank Beamer retires in a few years, and Sean Beamer is named the new Tech coach, will Cheryl Beamer retain Bud Foster as defensive coordina-tor? (Hoos fan/Charlottes-ville)

Answer- I know you’re pull-ing my leg, Hoos fan. But it did get a chuckle.

“I never forget a face ... but in your case I’ll gladly make an exception” - Groucho Marx

Send your inquiries to; [email protected]

Wild Bill’s Weekly Sports Roundup

Bill Turner


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sPortsPage 8 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 4/22/11 - 4/28/11

Alan Fiddler Named Patrick Henry Head Football Coach

West Virginia native Alan Fiddler was named the new head football coach at Patrick Henry High School last Thurs-day afternoon at Gainer Field.

Fiddler replaces former PH coach Brad Bradley, who is moving to Amelia County High School to assume dual respon-sibilities of head football coach and athletic director.

Bradley had been at PH for two years.

Fiddler brings extensive ex-perience to the Patriots. He previously was the head coach at NCAA Division II Glenville State College (WV) where he had a winning record of 45-32

over seven years. He also was head coach at Moorefield High School in West Virginia for seven seasons ('93-'99), and, after an assistants job at Mar-shall University, returned to Moorefield for an additional three seasons (2001-03). In the ten total years at Moorefield, Fiddler won six West Virginia Class A state championships, going 98-28 in the process.

Fiddler is married to wife, Amy. They have four children.

Alan Fiddler was introduced Thursday as Patrick Henry’s new head football coach.

University Of Richmond Basketball Coach Speaks at Roanoke Valley Sports Club

Who would had ever imag-ined that not one but two men’s basketball teams from the city of Richmond would make it to the Sweet 16 round or further in the recently-concluded NCAA men’s basketball champion-ships?

Yet that is exactly what hap-pened, as Virginia Common-wealth shocked the world by making it all the way to the Final Four. Right behind them was the University of Richmond, which advanced to the Sweet 16.

Richmond Spiders head coach Chris Mooney, the guest at the most recent meeting of the Roa-noke Valley Sports Club, was a subject of speculation during the tournament – as was VCU coach Shaka Smart – with major basketball schools looking for new head coaches.

Mooney instead signed a ten-year contract extension with Richmond, saying he appreci-ated the support received from athletic director Jim Millers and others. “I knew I wanted to stay,” Mooney told Sports Club mem-bers and guests, which included a number of Richmond alumni.

Mooney, who sounds like the Philadelphia-area kid that he is, was a high school stand-out who went on to a solid ca-reer at Princeton. He taught and coached in grade and high schools before getting a head-coaching job at Division III Bea-ver College. There, Mooney did everything from wash uniforms to wedding planning. His first team had only six players on the

roster. “Very difficult,” recalls Mooney, who was just 25 at the time. “It’s a long way from there to Richmond.”

Mooney made it to Division I basketball as an assistant head coach at the Air Force Acad-emy in Colorado Springs, and became head coach for one sea-son, earning an 18-12 record. He came back east to accept the Richmond job in 2005 leading the Spiders to the NCAA post-season tourney in 2009 and 2011.

“It's incredibly humbling for me every time I walk in the Robbins Center,” says Mooney of the Spider’s home gym. Ironi-cally, one of the basketball play-ers he often sees out on the court practicing is Abby Oliver – for-mer Hidden Valley High School standout and a guard for the women’s team at Richmond. “A great worker [and] great repre-sentative for the school,” notes Mooney.

When he took the Richmond

job, Mooney took over a pro-gram that had been down. He decided to recruit players of good character and after an ini-tial 8-22 season things started getting better in the Atlantic 10, which he called “a very good conference.” As for cross-town rivals VCU, Mooney terms it “a very good rivalry,” and “an amazing thing that both schools did so well [this season].”

Mooney loses four seniors from this season’s Sweet 16 squad but felt the program has “recruited well,” even luring one high school senior away from several ACC offers. “We can be very good at Richmond for a long time,” he declared. “Hav-ing actual footage of that much [post season] success is very important” when recruiting, added Mooney. “We feel like we were able to compete with some schools for good players.” Sweet 16 finishes and national TV exposure will do that for re-cruiting, even for a small private school where the undergraduate population is less than 3000.

Mooney also called Roanoke a “great sports town,” when thank-ing club members for the invite. The club meets every month ex-cept during the summer at the Salem Civic Center. “We’ve got-ten some good speakers here,” said Sports Club Vice President Dave Ross as he introduced Mooney.

By Gene [email protected]


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Golf Tournament To Raise Funds For Ecuador

“’Go ye and preach the Gospel’- Five Do and Die” reads the headline in Life Magazine’s January 30, 1956 issue. Fifty five years later, a group of 10 Roanoke teen-agers and adults will return to the area from where this shocking news originated.

Prior to 1956, the beautiful land located on the equator in the dense Amazon rainforest was the home to what turned out to be a very dangerous indigenous tribe. But as a re-sult of five missionaries giv-ing their lives and the contin-ued effort by their families, this area has become open to mission work.

After hearing the stories of what was called “Opera-tion Auca” and seeing the movie “End of the Spear,” Jason Cockayne, youth pas-tor at Mount Pleasant Bap-tist Church in Roanoke, felt

called to serve this area. “The first thing I felt bur-

dened to do was to sponsor a child in this area through Compassion International,” says Jason. “My wife and I sponsor a little girl for $38 a month to provide her with her basic life needs and more. Soon after, the teenagers at our church began to also sponsor a girl in this area by donating their change every week.”

Along with sponsoring a child in Ecuador, the group of teenagers and youth lead-ers have decided to travel to the Amazon jungles in Ecua-dor to help run a children’s camp and to visit their spon-sored children.

To help cover the costs for this trip (over $2,000 per person), the team is host-ing the "Compassion Inter-national Golf Tournament,"

on June 27th. The tourna-ment, being held at Roanoke Country Club, will not only help send them to serve the people of Ecuador, but will also help meet some of the financial needs of a specific Compassion International site as well.

“Because we believe Chris-tians should do things with excellence, we want this golf tournament to be a first-class experience for all those who participate,” Jason shares. The tournament will have prizes for the top 10 teams, closest to the pin, farthest drive and will also offer a memorabilia auction as well as food for all participants. Currently, their biggest need is for additional corporate sponsors to join them in making this event as success-ful as possible.

To find out more visit www.MPBaptist.com/golf.htm or call Mount Pleasant Baptist Church at 540-427-5494.

Send sports pictures, announcements and

story ideas to [email protected]

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Commentary - Elmwood Park Proposal Needs Closer Look

Gene Marrano's article last week, "City Manager Takes Elmwood Park Plan on the Road" raises some important questions. In my opinion this plan is a rough road, fraught with bumps and pot holes who's fixes are simply too costly in these austere times. The City Manager ask for input from the Parks Advisory Board. If the Advisory Board acts on behalf of the citizens of Roanoke it will take his request seriously and should advise against this project at this point in time.

In my letter to the Roanoke Times on March 14th. I accused council of wanting to destroy the natural hillside amphithe-ater. I received an email from Council Bill Bestpitch, harshly criticizing that statement and even questioning my ability to serve on the Parks Advisory Board. What does that say about city council? Should all members who they appoint to boards and commissions only have opinions that agree with theirs?

Yet City Manager's Morill's plan does indeed call for a ter-racing of the hillside. I guess its all in the definition of "destroy-ing" something that is natural.

The public needs to understand this whole process of "improv-ing Elmwood Park" is more about council and the business community pushing the need for a amphitheater down our throats at any and all cost, just like we "needed the Taubman." As stated in Marrano's article the amphitheater would be the first phase of the project.

Mr. Morill says he wants a vibrant park that can be used for events other than festivals. He refers to one in Savannah, GA where he came from. Mr. Morill, we do not have a popu-lation over three hundred thou-sand like Savannah. We are not Savannah, we are not Charlotte, nor do we want to be. "WE ARE ROANOKE" and we just want what we can presently af-ford - a cleaner, greener, well maintained Roanoke.

What the city manager is proposing is tantamount to a person who has trouble mak-ing their home payments with a poor credit rating, not enough money to clothe the kids, in need of car and house repairs and deciding it's time for a back yard makeover. This would be totally irresponsibil-ity for a person to do. How is it

responsible for the city to do? They tore down Victory Sta-

dium opposed by a majority of the voting public. Now, two years in a row they are tout-ing the success of the "Down by the River" concerts, pitch-ing huge tents for this event. Why is there not bells going off in heads as to this being the proper and best location for an amphitheater - when and if we could (or should?) afford one?

I find it utterly amazing, that given all the cuts back to basic services in the city and short-age of money for schools, that the article mentions adding more parks to our system. The city can't maintain the most basic maintenance of cutting grass around the city, yet has 5 million to spend on Elmwood Park and wants to add more parks to its inventory?

Something is fundamentally wrong here. If you agree, you should attend the City Coun-cil's Public input hearing on April 28th at 7 PM in Council Chambers. You don't have to speak, just come show your support for sound spending of your tax dollars.

-E. Duane Howard, Roanoke

Dear EditorYou would think our today

leaders would have learned from some of the dumb deci-sions our past leaders made, when they voted to demolish such a grand landmark as The Victory Stadium. By the way citizens were given bricks from the stadium to lessen their hurt. Some one has come up with an-other bright idea, eliminate the half hour valley metro services

in the morning and late after-noon. That could mean 17 to 18 drivers would lose their jobs. Yet up to $300,000 dollars may be spent to study the Elmwood Park Project. Shame on The Star City of the south, if this plan does take place, you will be add-ing to the unemployment rolls as well as the welfare rolls.

I noticed there wasn't any-thing mentioned about the trolley car. They run every 15

minutes, and it's free to ride. I suppose the trolley can run on fresh air, and the drivers have volunteered to drive the buses. Our leaders can and should find the money to keep the peak hour services moving. Be thankful that I only have one vote to cast.

-Josephine Hutcheson, Roa-noke

Letter - City Still Making Bad Decisions

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I want to take this oppor-tunity to respond to the unin-formed advertisement that ran in last week’s Roanoke Star Sen-tinel. Obviously the organiz-ers behind this ad failed to do their research. Otherwise, they would have found that I have in fact taken a strong position on President Obama’s recent ac-tions in Libya and my concerns have been well publicized by several local media outlets in-cluding a recent story that ran in the Roanoke Times.

As everyone is well aware, on March 18th, President Obama met with Congressional leaders to inform them of U.S. action against Libya. The following day, U.S. forces, at the com-mand of President Obama, be-gan attacking targets, controlled by Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi, by air.

I think most Americans, in-cluding myself, agree that see-ing Moammar Gadhafi and his regime of thugs removed from power would be a good thing. However, I think most Ameri-cans, including myself, also feel strongly that American forces should not be committed to this kind of mission without the consent of the U.S. Congress.

President Obama cites the War Powers Resolution of 1973 as giving him the authority to commit U.S. forces to the mis-sion in Libya. However, the War Powers Resolution clearly states that the President's powers as Commander in Chief to intro-duce U.S. forces into hostilities can be exercised only when a

declaration of war has been is-sued, specific statutory authori-zation has been given or in the event of a national emergency created by an attack on the Unit-ed States or its forces. While the President did notify Congress of the use of force, he has failed to define the mission in Libya and America's role in achieving that mission before committing troops in Libya. For that reason, Congress is currently evaluating the steps taken by the President in Libya to determine if he has violated the law.

In addition, I am a cospon-sor and strong supporter of two resolutions introduced by Representative Tom Cole which require both the Secretaries of Defense and State to provide the House of Representatives with all documentation that their Departments posses which re-late to any consultation with Congress regarding the mili-tary action the U.S. has taken in Libya.

I am also a cosponsor of a res-olution recently introduced by Representative Ron Paul of Tex-as, which expresses the sense of the Congress that the President is required to obtain in advance specific authorization for the use of U.S. Armed Forces in re-sponse to civil unrest in Libya. Rest assured that I will continue calling on our Congressional

leaders to hold a vote on the Constitutional authority of the President to use force in Libya.

Finally, anytime constituents have a question about my po-sition on the important issues facing our nation I encourage them to be in contact with me. Every day I receive hundreds of phone calls, e-mails, faxes and letters from folks all across the 6th Congressional District and as your elected Representative in Washington, D.C. nothing is more important to me than the thoughts and concerns of my constituents.

-Congressman Bob Goodlatte

Commentary - Goodlatte Defends Policy

Commentary - The End Is Near . . . ?So I hear the end of the world

is near. In fact, according to Rev-erend Harold Camping and his roadside billboards, May 21st is the beginning of THE END, the day of the Christian Rapture and the prelude to the final apoca-lyptic destruction of the Earth on October 21st, 2011. With only a month or so to go, you might like to hear the specifics. Forewarned is forearmed; look before you leap; better safe than sorry; whatever.

How is the Rapture to go down? A massive earthquake will strike this May 21st in New Zealand at exactly 6:00pm. The earthquake will slowly travel around the earth, shaking every place at 6pm local time. This earthquake will shake open all the graves, releasing dearly de-parted Christians who will join living believers in their flight to meet Jesus Christ in the sky and travel to Heaven for their eter-nal reward. All those left behind will live through five months of God’s punishment, culminat-ing in complete destruction this coming October.

While most Christians agree that ‘no man knows the day nor the hour’ of the rapture or apocalypse, how is it that Mr. Camping has uncovered a spe-cific date and time? It is actually very simple. First, using the bib-lical genealogies, and taking into account certain gaps that only Mr. Camping has discovered through his vigorous scholar-ship, we find that Noah’s flood took place on May 21st, 4990 BC. In Genesis we read that Noah spent seven days on the Ark before the flood came that destroyed the world. In the book of Peter we read that to God a day is as a thousand years, and Jesus preached that the end times would be like the days of Noah. Putting all the pieces of this pro-phetic puzzle together, Camping claims to have ‘absolute proof ’ that the Rapture must occur ex-actly seven thousand years after Noah’s flood. Unfortunately for us, the big day comes this May. Isn’t it simple?

Reverend Camping’s ap-proach to interpreting the Bible is akin to a ‘connect the dots’ game on the back of a kid’s meal menu. However, instead of following the numbered dots and completing the intended picture, Camping connects his dots in any order he chooses. In this ‘connect the verse’ game, he links a verse in Genesis to a verse in Matthew to a verse in Peter to a verse in Revelation and con-cludes that Jesus will return next month. Camping claims that the Bible is filled with hidden spiri-tual messages which can only be discovered by connecting the correct verses together. The

obvious problem is that this al-lows one to force the Bible to say anything.

If you are concerned that Mr. Camping’s prediction may prove true, rest easy in the fact that he has been wrong before. His ‘con-nect the verse’ scholarship previ-ously led him to predict that Je-sus would come in 1994. When Jesus did not return on time, Camping discovered his error and moved the date forward to 2011. In addition, over the years he has uncovered the biblical ‘truths’ that the doctrine of the Trinity is false, the Lake of Fire is temporary, all churches are ruled by Satan, and the only true be-lievers are those who believe his version of the Bible. Yes, the only people being saved on May 21st are those who believe in Camp-ing’s version of THE END. The rest of us carry the ‘Mark of the Beast’ (namely, membership in a Christian Church) and are eter-nally damned.

Perhaps you are like me, both fascinated and grieved over Harold Camping’s teachings. It is indeed fascinating to see the creation of a modern-day apoc-alyptic cult. Camping has fol-lowed the cult-leader playbook page for page. When his coming May prediction is proven wrong, he will have a couple options to continue his ministry. First, he can move back the date. Unfor-tunately 2012 has already been taken by the Mayans. Maybe a later date would be better any-way, one far enough in the fu-ture that he can expect to have died before THE END fails to come again (pun intended). Sec-ond, Camping might ‘go Waco’ on May 22nd, warning that the

apocalypse is under way, and en-couraging his followers to head for the hills. In either case, the tens of thousands of people duti-fully following his teachings will be sorely disappointed.

The tragic results of Camp-ing’s failed predictions will be clearly seen in the spiritual harm done to his followers. With these hurting souls in mind, I have contacted Reverend Camping and made a personal offer. I will take over ownership of his min-istry on May 22nd of this year. If the Rapture has occurred as predicted, I will continue broad-casting his teachings on all 125 of his radio stations until the FINAL END on October 21st. His ministry will go on without him, preaching God’s judgment faithfully. If, however, the rap-ture does not occur, I will use his radio stations to minister to his hurting followers, and then liquidate the ministry assets and donate the proceeds to legiti-mate Christian ministries.

Unfortunately, like every ef-fective cult leader, he refuses to entertain any possibility that his predictions are wrong. He re-fuses to consider any plans past May 21st, and so will give me no response to my sincere offer. We can only hope that his followers react to their coming disappoint-ment by turning their backs on Camping rather than turn-ing their backs on God. As for me, I will be contacting Harold Camping again on May 22nd. My sincere offer still stands.

David Duncombe is a teacher of High-School biblical studies at Parkway Christian Academy in Roanoke.

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Salem Terrace at Harrogate Celebrates Grand OpeningSalem Terrace at Harrogate,

the newest senior living com-munity in the Roanoke Valley opened December 1 but resi-dents and staff were proud to debut their new look for senior living with the community’s of-ficial Grand Opening Celebra-tion this Thursday. The three-story community features 60 residential and assisted living apartments and a specialized memory care center with 16 apartments. Currently 37 new team members work at Salem Terrace and at full capacity the community will create 45 new jobs in the Valley.

The community features a spacious dining room, theater, living room with fireplace, out-door decks and terraces, library, and social club. First-class din-ing is provided by a talented cu-linary team led by Chef Michele Carder, food service director for Salem Terrace.

Salem Terrace at Harrogate is managed by Coordinated Services Management, Inc. of Roanoke, a professional man-agement firm with over 30 years of experience that is owned by White Whale Enterprises, LLC of Salem. (Louis Waldrop and Preston Waldrop, MD)

“With innovative programs and events, an elegant archi-tectural design, and unrivaled community features, Salem Terrace fills a unique niche in the greater Roanoke Valley. It provides a complete living expe-rience for independent seniors who seek comfort and luxury, as well as those in need of assisted living or memory care services. We are very excited about the future of this community,” says LeeAnn Brochero, administra-tor.

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Do Your Property Taxes Reflect True Value?By Amanda E. Shaw, Law Firm of Glenn Feldmann Darby & Goodlatte

Do your local property taxes reflect the true value of your property? In Virginia, property sub-ject to local taxation includes real estate, vehicles, machinery and tools, merchant’s capital, and all other types of tangible personal property.

In these tough economic times, localities are reluctant to let go of any source of revenue. This often results in the unfair treatment of taxpayers, both business and individual. The fair market value of your assets may have dropped signifi-cantly, yet the locality has made no adjustment to its valuation of your assets or to the amount of tax it assesses. What can you do?

The first option is to file an application for cor-rection with the commissioner of revenue. Tax-payers have three years from the last day of the tax year in which the commissioner makes an erro-neous assessment, or one year from the date of the erroneous assessment, whichever is later, to file

the application. If the commissioner determines that the assessment was, indeed, erroneous, the locality will exonerate you from having to pay any erroneous tax and will refund any erroneous tax you have already paid, with interest. If, however, the commissioner determines that your property was assessed at less than fair market value, the commissioner will increase the assessment to the fair market value and will assess you additional tax based on that value.

Another option is to appeal the tax assessment to the commissioner of revenue. This option is available in the case of local mobile property tax-es—taxes on airplanes, boats, campers, recreation-al vehicles, and trailers—as well as in the case of local business taxes, such as machinery and tools tax, business tangible personal property tax, and merchant’s capital tax. Taxpayers have only one year from the last day of the tax year in which the

tax was assessed, or one year from the date of the assessment, to file such an appeal. The commis-sioner of revenue may require you to provide ad-ditional information to establish the value of your property. If the local commissioner of revenue denies your appeal, you can appeal that denial to the state Tax Commissioner in Richmond.

Finally, the taxpayer can bypass the local com-missioner of revenue and the state Tax Commis-sioner and proceed to court. Taxpayers can file an application for correction directly with the circuit court for the jurisdiction in which the assessment was made within the same timeframe as an ap-plication for correction to the commissioner of revenue. If the commissioner of revenue or the state Tax Commissioner rules against you under either of the two options noted above, you have one year to appeal that ruling to the local circuit court using this same procedure.

The commissioner of revenue’s assessment, however, is presumed by law to be correct, and the taxpayer has the burden of overcoming that presumption. You can do this by proving that the assessor committed manifest error or disregarded controlling evidence. As a practical matter, you must be prepared to hire a professional appraiser. Simply asserting that the value of your property is not as high as the locality says it is will not be suf-ficient to prove your case either in court or to the commissioner of revenue or the state Tax Com-missioner. You must have an expert witness ready to challenge the locality’s assessor.

Litigation, including the hiring of expert wit-nesses, can be expensive. If your locality is over-assessing your property by a significant amount, however, it may well be worthwhile to pursue one of these options.

There are very few things in the world that a good Lime Rickey cannot fix, but what the Rickey can’t accomplish, surely Brandon Davis’ special brand of “Zen Healing Soup” can. Both cures can be found at POP’S. That’s POP’S Ice cream and Soda Bar; a place where home-made ice cream in all the flavors of the rainbow and sumptuous, homemade veggie soups are dished up with colossal sides of friendship as fast as whiskeys at other sorts of bars.

POP’S, located at 1916 Me-morial Avenue, has gracefully assumed the edifice that used to be the Raleigh Court Library from 1920s to the 1970s. It has retained its white, neoclassical columns and external façade, but floors, walls, plumbing, and wiring had to be restored.

“We replaced only what had to be fixed and purchased used (circa 1950s) bar equipment from Ebay,” said owners Anna Robertson, 34, and Brandon Davis, 41. In everything they

do, the couple is mindful of the Earth’s need for people to re-uti-lize resources and seek balance in both work and life.

The vintage soda bar equip-ment creates the shop’s center-piece along with wainscoting and vintage 1930s wooden booths; art and other accoutrements that evoke the late 1920s/1930s corner soda shops - once a pre-dominant feature of many of America’s small towns.

“We got married in May of 2005 and opened the place in March of 2006; we’d already be-gun renovations,” said Robert-son, who confessed that it was love at first site when she met Davis as a patron while she was working at a convenience store on Grandin Road.

Both Robertson and Davis had worked in the restaurant business before, and they shared a passion for somewhat slower paced days that were unencum-bered by modern technology and the society’s ever increas-ing addiction to mobility. They

dreamed of a soda shop, but the soda/ice cream shop that they envisioned has bloomed into much more.

“Almost every afternoon we have a few kids who drop by,” said Davis. “They seem to need someone to talk to, so I’m here for them.”

Davis and Robertson cel-ebrate the fact that the family atmosphere at POP’S extends an open invitation to a wonderful, diverse group of people; some of whom – have special needs. Maybe that’s why customers come in throngs to the welcom-ing little shop that has been writ-ten about in numerous publica-tions, including The Roanoker Magazine, The Oxford Ameri-can Journal and The Garden London Magazine.

“There may be a longing for nostalgia, but it could also be the fact that with fast food, ev-erything looks the same and the

larger chains have become so impersonal,” said Davis.

“It may be important to note that we’re not going anywhere,” added Robertson, “in an era when many entrepreneurs are looking for something bigger and better, we’re here to stay.”

The community understands the couple’s intentions and some folks are amused that devotees from around the globe blog about the restaurant when they can’t visit in person. Davis says that one group of major POP’S Facebook fans are Indonesians from Jakarta. “They like us even more than Salemites,” he laughs, preparing to stir his famous Af-rican-peanut soup.

Robertson has stepped up as a role model, representing hope, light and an empathetic attitude toward all the strangers she seats at POP’S, who soon become fast-friends. She was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma nearly a decade ago. This trau-ma came upon her just as her life was changing dramatically to include a divorce, the rearing of two teenagers and a new mar-riage to Brandon Davis, as well as a brand new career as part owner and operator of POP’S.

“I believe in miracles and the value of naivety,” said Robert-son. “I mean, I didn’t know how hard it was all going to be, but I made it through partly because I didn’t have a clue. Brandon and I just took it one step at a time, and somehow everything fell into place.”

POP’S Ice Cream and Soda Bar Thrives on Grandin

By Mary [email protected]

Photo by Mary Campagna

POP’S Ice Cream and Soda Bar located on Grandin Road.

True to its mission to provide leadership, advocacy, and ac-tion that will help the Roanoke Region achieve its potential as a desirable place to live, work, and visit, the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce brought together hundreds of local busi-ness owners, employees, and job hunters together on Tuesday af-ternoon.

Nearly 80 exhibitors partici-pated in the 18th annual Busi-ness & Technology Expo, which was held from 3-7 p.m. at the Roanoke Civic Center Special Events Center and was open to the public free of charge.

A job fair was added to this year’s event to help address lo-cal unemployment rates, which are hovering at 8.8 percent in Roanoke City and 5.7 percent in Roanoke County according to February 2011 United State Department of Labor records. Participants were encouraged to share their resumes with rep-resentatives from six local em-

ployment agencies.Guests were invited to attend

two free workshops as well as a free Business After Hours event from 5-7 p.m.

The Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce was es-tablished in 1890 and currently has about 1,200 members across 40 localities in Virginia.

Annual Business & Technology Expo Brings Hundreds Together

Jen Ward, Principal of Blue Filly Productions, spoke with workshop attendees about the importance of a strong marketing program in the success of any business.


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The Roanoke Valley Conven-tion & Visitors Bureau (CVB) has announced that Jane Sey-mour, Golden Globe and Emmy award winning actress, will be this year’s annual meet-ing speaker. The CVB’s annual meeting and luncheon event will be held at The Hotel Roa-noke & Conference Center’s Roanoke Ballroom on Thurs-day, May 12th at 11:30 a.m.

Ms. Seymour is perhaps best known for her role in “Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman” a long-running television series. Her most significant movie roles have been in the James Bond thriller “Live and Let Die” with Roger Moore and “Some-where in Time” with Chris-topher Reeve. Just last year, Ms. Seymour was cast for a principal role in “Lake Effects,” which was filmed on location at Smith Mountain Lake and sites throughout the Roanoke Valley. Ms. Seymour plays the family matriarch, Vivian Tisdale, in a story about two daughters and their mother who embark on a journey of rediscovery after the family patriarch dies.

Music for “Lake Effects” was composed in part by Maestro David Stewart Wiley, direc-tor of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. Several members of the symphony including Wiley will perform during the annual meeting. Sara Elizabeth Tim-mins, the producer of “Lake Ef-fects,” has plans to give those in attendance the first look at the film with the movie trailer.

“We are honored to have Ms. Seymour as our featured speak-er,” stated Landon Howard, Roanoke Valley CVB Executive Director. “The setting for “Lake Effects” in Virginia’s beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains offers a fabulous opportunity for mil-lions to see our area perhaps for

the first time through this film.” Howard continued, “It is our hope the popularity of Ms. Sey-mour and her starring role in the movie will lead to increased visitation to the region.”

Business leaders are banking on the film to be an economic driver for the region and for tourism. In 2009, Roanoke Valley tourism generated over $610 million in annual expen-ditures, 7,100 direct jobs, and $131 million in annual payroll. In the same year, Virginia’s film industry had an economic im-pact of more than $346 million, contributing $33 million in tax revenue and providing work for 2,700 Virginians. Filming and tourism are big business and the Roanoke Valley CVB plans to celebrate both on May 12.

Tickets to the event are $45 per person which includes lunch as well as a private book signing. Limited seating is available to the general public.

Reservations may be made by contacting Heidi Mowry at the Roanoke Valley CVB, [email protected] or (540) 342-6025, ext. 116.

Jane Seymour to be Speaker at CVB Meeting

Jane Seymour

RSO Season Introduces New Genres \ Public ParticipationThe Roanoke Symphony Orchestra will

introduce Bluegrass music into its reper-toire, with a newly commissioned work, the Concerto for Mandolin and Orchestra, by composer and musician Jeff Midkiff. Mid-kiff and the RSO will perform this piece in concert on Opening Night of the 2011-2012 season.

Midkiff, is an award winning mandolin player and fiddler and former member of the Lonesome River Band. According to RSO Music Director David Stewart Wiley, Midkiff's piece reflects the “rich and color-ful palette of music performed and enjoyed right here in the Blue Ridge.”

The RSO made the announcement dur-ing a news conference this week announcing several major artists and concerts planned for the upcoming season including:

The RSO's “Picnic at the Pops” series will grow to four concert events including The Music of Queen, a concert collaboration with rock bands and vocalists from group Jeans 'n Classics (Spring 2012). Other major solo artist confirmations for the new Pops series will be made as the season progresses.

Sir. James Galway – The internationally renowned flutist will perform with the RSO at the Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre (Fall 2011)

A free concert offered (Fall 2011) – part of a series presented by St. John’s Episcopal Church in Roanoke

“Runaway Bunny”, a collaboration be-tween the RSO, Hollins University, and the Taubman Museum of Art to commemo-rate the works of Margaret Wise Brown, an American author of childhood classics such as “Goodnight Moon.”

Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” presented by the RSO's Roanoke Youth Symphony Or-chestra, and the Southwest Vir-ginia Ballet.

“Roanoke’s vibrant arts com-munity is deserving of top qual-ity entertainment that stimulates mind, body, and spirit,” contin-ued Wiley. “Our patrons appre-ciate and expect entertainment variety, musical innovation, and leadership and the upcoming season will deliver.”

Adding to its pledge for variety and entertainment, the RSO an-nounced that the upcoming sea-son will offer an opportunity for pianists from around the world to vie for the opportunity to per-form with the symphony, through its “Star City International Piano Competition”, presented in col-laboration with the Jefferson Center, Hollins University, the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

The competition, before a live audience, will take place in Janu-ary 2012 at Jefferson Center. The first place winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize and will be fea-tured as a soloist with the RSO in two concert appearances during April 2012, performing Rach-maninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2.

More information about the competition is expected to be announced later in the year.

As the community anticipates an excit-ing season line-up and international music competition, RSO Executive Director Beth Pline says “it’s more important than ever to ensure that performances are accessible to as many people as possible.”

To this end, the organization will offer reduced ticket prices on the popular three-concert Picnic at the Pops package, and more flexibility and affordability through a new set of “Symphony Samplers” which will allow ticket buyers to create their own entertainment package of three, four, or five concerts from any RSO series at a discount-ed cost.

Current Masterworks subscribers will also see a new incentive to sample the va-riety of programming on the upcoming season by adding their choice of any one Pops Series concert to their renewal at no

additional cost. Other perks will include a pre-sale “invitation” to meet flutist James Galway during a private reception following his Roanoke debut performance, as well as “Refer-A-Friend” discounts to other events.

“This year will be an exciting one and we hope these new programs and options will make it easier for anyone who wants to en-joy the symphony experience to be able to do so,” says RSO Marketing Director Rod-ney Overstreet.

Much of the new programming and ticket options are thanks to a host of corporate sponsors, the largest number in the history of the organization, that have pledged sup-port for the season.

“Our relationship with these many gener-ous sponsors helps defray the cost of orches-tra musicians,” adds Pline. “Partnering with other organizations, venues, colleges and schools adds variety and even more enter-tainment value to live music.”

Corporate sponsors for the 2011-2012 season include Advance Autoparts, AEP, Allstate, Brandon Oaks Retirement Com-munity, Benefits Group, Business Solutions, Carilion Clinic, Caroline LaRocca Event Designs, Catawba Capital, Gentle Shepherd Hospice, Grand Home Furnishings, ITT, LeClaire Ryan, Member One Federal Credit Union, John Nordt & Company, the Roa-noke Arts Commission, Roanoke Times, The Shenandoah Club, SunTrust Bank, Vir-ginia Business Systems, Virginia Tech Foun-dation, Virginia Western Community Col-lege, Wells Fargo, and Woods Rogers.

The RSO's 2011-2012 season, 'Art that En-tertains,' goes on sale to subscribers in April, and to new subscribers in June. For more in-formation visit www.rso.com.

Jeff Midkiff and David Wiley perform.

Hidden Valley Destination ImagiNation Team Going Global

The Hidden Valley Middle School Destination ImagiNa-tion team, the “Hidden Valley Hoodlums”, is going global – but they need help from the Ro-anoke community to get there. The team is asking for dona-tions to raise the $5000 needed to enter the Global Finals of the worldwide Destination Imagi-nation competition in May in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The seven-member team scored first place among nine Virginia middle school teams during the recent DI state com-petition, which tests students’ creative and critical thinking skills through playwriting and performance. Matthew Harris, AJ Vail, Adam Wood, Elizabeth Wilkin, Hollins Vieth, Morgan Day and Faith Settles are now poised to represent Roanoke and join 14,000 participants from the U.S. and more than 30 countries to compete for the world-wide championship.

The team is in need of dona-tions and sponsorships to raise the $5,000 needed to enter the Global Finals and take their skit to the next level – and it’s a story worth telling.

Tasked with the goal of us-ing three different storytelling methods to tell the same story to three team-chosen pretend audiences, the Hidden Valley Hoodlum’s skit took a unique triple-take on the classic Red

Riding Hood fairy tale that wowed the judges:

The performance is described as follows: The stage is set on the heels of another successful performance of the Red Riding Hood story by the all-girl dra-ma group, the “Princess Story Portrayers.” All of the sudden a group of evil gangsters with a faulty (at best) plot to kidnap the late Walt Disney for ransom threatens to infiltrate the group to gain access to Disneyland, the Princess Story Portrayers’ next performance venue. Our villains demand our heroes teach them the fairy tale so they can convincingly disguise themselves as part of the dra-ma team – and an original rap song seemingly does the trick. But when the gangster group tries to perform the skit them-

selves, their misguided version catches the attention of a cop who quickly realizes they are not who they appear to be and whisks them off to jail. Their only hope of escape is to try and butter-up the guards with a per-formance of the story to which they can relate – a Law & Order parody! But the final verdict? The evil-doers will be doing some hard time!

The team designed, built and operated their own props and special effects, which included a detailed wolf mask, and a tour bus that transformed into a paddy wagon at the touch of a button.

According to team member and 7th-grader Adam Wood, “our team is proudest of our chemistry on stage, which gives us a wider range of interactions,

sketches, jokes and stories. The most challenging part to ex-ecute and develop was the Law & Order portion of the perfor-mance which required a lot of studying of the show to nail the mood and sense of it.”

Hidden Valley Principal Ken Nicely says the team really does deserve to move ahead: “These students have worked incred-ibly hard and tenaciously to reach this level of success. It is encouraging to see students em-ploy critical thinking and prob-lem solving skills in such a cre-ative outlet. Equally important is that these students are not only bright and hard working, they are young people of good character.”

The Global Finals will be held May 25-28 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Com-petitors come from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, ten Canadian provinces, and 30 countries will be represented in-cluding Australia, Brazil, China, Columbia, Ecuador, England, Guatemala, India, South Korea, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Scotland, Singapore, Trinidad, Turkey, and Venezuela.

Donations can be made by check to Hidden Valley Middle School-DI. For more informa-tion, contact Laura Wood, 589-0119, [email protected].

Left to right in the photo are: Faith Settles, Hollins Vieth, Elizabeth Wilkin, Morgan Day (Wolf), A.J. Vail, Adam Wood, Mat-thew Harris.

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Dogwood Festival Is Regional FavoriteThe Vinton Dogwood Festi-

val has come a long way in the Roanoke area. Originating from a William Byrd High School Marching Band fundraiser to buy uniforms, it has grown over the years from a humble town event to a four-day ex-travaganza with a carnival and countless performers, drawing people from all over South-west Virginia. On the eve of the 56th festival, many community members are reflecting on just what the festival means to the town.

Mayor Brad Grose is quick to point out that the drive be-hind the festival comes from the community itself. While the town supports the festival with both financial aid and assis-tance from public works, "tradi-tional leaders in the community have been the ones who have sat on the festival committee." He notes that the festival is made up of all volunteers, stressing the work done to "stage every-thing the way that they do."

Vinton Town Manager Chris Lawrence considers the festival one of the best unifying forces in the town: "It's really one of the biggest things that defines Vinton. The Dogwood is basi-cally our brand. It's a testament to how strong our community is." Dogwood festivities sym-bolize the kickoff for the town's spring and summer activities, says Lawrence, emphasizing that there are special events going on almost every week after the Dogwood Festival up through Halloween: "We're a small town of festivals."

Among this year's events are a 5K run, a craft show and a bike rally, complete with an ear-drum-shaking "loud pipes" con-test. For the youngsters, there's a carnival that runs all four days (next Thursday through Sun-day) along with a "Kid's Zone" on Friday with inflatables, games and visitors from both Mill Mountain Zoo and the Salem Red Sox. Music lovers can take in the sounds of rising Country Top 40 breakout Steve Holy, along with local groups like "The Young Rockers," "7 Mile Ford" and the bluegrass group "Acoustic Endeavors."

Musical guests and the Fes-tival parade (next Saturday) attract not only the immediate town citizens, but a wide range of regional festival goers. Grose says that he often hears of Cave Spring and Salem residents venturing across the valley to take in the festivities. Those at-

tending aren't limited, however, to the immediate Roanoke re-gion. Last year, Grose explains, he met a couple that had been coming down from Covington for several years: "That means there's something special here."

The highlighting of a tight community isn't the only benefit that the festival provides. Busi-ness often benefits both directly and indirectly. Grose claims that many local establishments have very good days in terms of busi-ness volume. Jeff Janney of Vin-ton Appliance is a large booster of the festival because of the ex-

posure it allows. Janney claims that he's often had customers come in several months later who live outside the town limits but remember seeing his busi-ness during the festival. Woods Auto Center dives in headfirst into the festival events by hold-ing the annual bike rally at its Washington Avenue location.

Lawrence says the festival allows Vinton to show off its center district, allowing out-of-towners to take note of a down-town corridor that features restaurants, retail shops and a florist that they might other-wise drive right by during most days.

Even though vendors and the parade may block off the down-town streets that potential cus-tomers would otherwise use for business parking, Janney takes a relaxed tack to being incon-venienced. "The exposure for downtown Vinton is well worth losing some of that day's busi-ness that you can reschedule to another day," he says, relating that customers don't usually buy large appliances on impulse any ways. "I'm all for it . . . for all of our businesses."

While Lawrence estimates that between 15,000 and 20,000

people are expected to attend the festival over four days, he stresses that modest charm of the festival makes it the long-lived attraction that it is. With the carnival and the crown-ing of a high school Dogwood Queen, he adds, "it's about as small-town America as you can get."

See vintondogwoodfestival.org for more information and a com-plete schedule of events for April 27-May 1.

Photo by Aaron Layman

The Queen and her court from last year’s Dogwood Festival.

Jefferson Center Fun Day Big Hit For Kids The sound of torrential

downpours against the sky-lights on the second floor of the Jefferson Center made it a bit difficult to hear the musi-cians perform, but that didn’t stop the hundreds of families who attended the Second An-nual Jefferson Center Family Fun Day from having a great time Saturday afternoon.

Organizers had planned to hold the event on the front lawn, but moved it indoors due to weather. Jefferson Center Development Director John Levin believes about 350 peo-ple attended this year’s event, a slight increase over last year. The event was free to the pub-lic.

Christ Our Redeemers Church volunteers grilled hot dogs free of charge for every-one who attended. The Old Southwest Neighborhood Group sold drinks and baked

goods.Mill Mountain Zoo Educa-

tion Specialist Bambi Godkin and a colleague brought a few zoo friends with them, giving children and adults the op-portunity to get up close and

personal with an owl, a lizard, a tortoise and a snake.

A large inflatable slide and face painting by Katherine Devine were among the favor-ite children’s activities. Several Roanoke Symphony volunteers worked with children to make musical instruments out of re-cycled materials.

Einstein's Monkey and the Quest Academy Marimba En-semble had guests dancing to the music while they enjoyed a host of activities.

Other vendors included Commonwealth Catholic Charities, Apple Ridge Farm, Local Colors, Children’s Trust, Member One Federal Credit Union, Mill Mountain Zoo, Roanoke Children’s Theatre, the Roanoke Symphony and the Music Lab, among others.


Photo by Laura L. Neff-Henderson

Children enjoyed activities in spite of the heavy rain that hit the Valley last weekend.

Photo by Aaron Layman

Children guide a hot air balloon in last year’s parade.More Questions? Call Stuart Revercomb: 330-7335

5646 Cloverdale Road, Roanoke, VA 24019( Just up from Wal-M ar t nex t to Murray's Apple Cider!)

Sunday School - 9:15 / Worship - 11:00

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FromA Most Blessed Easter to You

Service of Darkness - 8:30pm

Worship and Celebrationof the Resurrection - 11:00am

By Aaron [email protected]

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