the roanoke star-sentinel
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News from the Roanoke Valley for January 6, 2012.TRANSCRIPT
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On a tour of the freshly com-pleted Trane building Tuesday, Virginia District Manager Da-vid Pierson was busy with last minute details. The move into the new building will begin this week and the building is expect-ed to be fully operational by the end of January.
The new 23,000 square foot building sits on property owned by Jess Newbern, III the princi-pal of Newbern Properties, LLC. The building has a spectacular view of the Valley from the sec-ond floor corner room that will be used for customer presenta-tions.
Newbern-Trane began as
a franchise in the mid-1970s. Through the years Newbern has expanded the 1870’s farm-house that sits on the corner of Frontage Road and Highland Farm Road to accommodate his growing business. The historic home is easily visible from I-581 approaching the Hershberger Road exit.
He eventually sold the fran-chise to the Trane Corporation in 2000 who combined it with Virginia Trane in Richmond. American Standard purchased the firm in the 1980s and Inger-
[Military Service]
> CONTINUEDP2: Trane
Fighting For Freedom
Photo by Cpl. Reece Lodder
U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Zachary Fisher, a 22-year-old fire team leader with 3rd Platoon, India Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment and Roanoke native, speaks with Afghan men about a vehicle checkpoint during a partnered security patrol with Afghan National Army soldiers on Dec. 30. On this particular patrol, Afghan Army soldiers and Marines interacted with local citizens and spoke with an elder about biometrically enrolling the members of his village for identification purposes. ‘America’s Battalion’ is aiding the Afghan National Forces in assuming security responsibilities in Helmand province. The op-erations are designed to further the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance of Afghanistan by defeating insurgent forces and helping secure the Afghan people.
Board Revisits Voting Precinct Reduction
In September 2011 Electoral Board member Melvin Wil-liams presented a plan to com-bine six Roanoke City voting precincts. At the time, Williams said council wanted them to go back and create something like a “task force” made up of con-stituencies including the SCLC, NAACP, members of the May-or’s Commission on Disabilities and neighborhood groups.
At Tuesday morning’s brief-ing, Williams was back with a whole new plan. “We started from scratch,” he said. The man-date was to keep the precincts “compact and contiguous.”
The proposed plan would reduce the 32 precincts to 19. The 32 precincts “have been in place as long as anyone can remember,” said Williams. The five precincts outside the 11th House of Delegates would re-main in the 17th district to pre-vent voter confusion and the split of precincts.
The city’s GIS map expert Kenny Harris used software to rearrange different district sce-
> CONTINUEDP2: Precincts
New Crime Fighting Tool Takes to Skies A two-seat 500 pound forest
green Dream Machine is the lat-est pride and joy of the Virginia Tech Police Department. Offi-cer Kenny Smith is one of four pilots learning to fly the pow-ered parachute. He describes it as “a dune buggy with a para-chute attached to it.”
It’s one of only a handful in the country. The Department of Justice bought several pow-ered parachutes and loaned one to a law enforcement agency in Florida, another in Alabama, and yet another in California. Virginia Tech’s powered para-chute is the only one on loan to a university.
Smith says the engine uses 93 octane gas-oline with no ethanol. The drab gray chute is about 30 feet long and 9 feet wide and is made from the same material as parachutes used for jumping out of an airplane. Two people can fly in the aircraft, which weighs 500 pounds and can carry 500 pounds. It can go as high as 10,000 feet.
“Hopefully in the near future, if money is available, we’re going to get a nice sized parachute that has Virginia Tech on it, and colorful, probably maroon and orange.”
He steers with his feet, like a sled, so his hands are free to hold a camera or other equipment.
Smith says it’s already been put to good
use.“We had an incident that
took place and the investiga-tors needed the area photo-graphed so they could put pictures from the ground and pictures from the air together and put their case together. And it worked out really won-derful. I think it worked out better than what everybody expected it to do.”
One of the great advantages, is the visibility.
“If you’re looking for an item or a person or anything like that, the visibility that you
have around you is almost 280 degrees. You can see down,
all around you, and directly straight down and you don’t have anything blocking you. That’s one of the advantages of having this.”
But not having sides, a floor, or ceiling, could also be a disadvantage. “If there’s any safety concerns; if there’s anyone out there with a weap-
Photo by Beverly Amsler
The Virginia Tech Police Department’s new powered parachute.
> CONTINUEDP2: Skies
Property Assessments Fall For First Time
Director of Finance Ann Shawver said it could have been worse. “Unfortunately we have one of the more disappointing reports this year.“ But it was still better then she had expected.
Existing residential property decreased 2.7%, including some positive reassessment of com-mercial properties, the overall decline was 1.6%. New con-struction added slightly more to revenue at .41% further lessen-ing the overall impact to -1.19%. The effect on revenue loss comes to over $1 million.
The Code of Virginia requires that all real property be assessed for taxation at 100% of market value. Keeping valuations just under 100% allows for leeway. In 2011 Roanoke City’s assess-> CONTINUEDP2: Assessments
Moving Day Arrives for Virginia Trane
Photo by Valerie Garner
Virginia Trane’s new 23,000 square foot building.
Photo by Valerie Garner
Director of Finance Ann Shawver and Roanoke Man-agement and Budget Director Amelia Merchant discuss the impact of assessments on the 2013 budget.
Years!new
P6-7– Happy new Year! Check out our special middle section devoted to starting the year off just right.
Sciencenew
P3– The Science Museum of Western virginia and vA Tech blaze a trail to the future with their new partnership.
Timekeeping
P5– Mary Jo Shannon says that even in today’s busy world it’s still possible to keep time as your servant in lieu of your master.
HoopsInside
P8– Wild Bill Turner gives an update on the high school basketball scene including a review of recent tournament results.
The Roanoke Star-Sentinel
Mary Jo Shannon
Page 2 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 1/6/12 -1/12/12 newsRoanoke.com
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on that’s on the run that we’re looking for, that’s going to be up to the pilot’s discretion, and more than likely, that will not be utilized depending on what the circumstances are.”
Changing weather conditions also pose a hazard to aircraft and pilot.
“When you take off it can be perfectly calm but then the winds, if they pick up by any means, you want to land it. It’s safe to fly this machine with winds from zero to six miles an hour and six to 12 miles an hour you can still fly it; it’s not very comfortable. You have a very uncomfortable feeling in your stomach the whole time you’re in it because the winds can pretty much blow it anywhere it
wants to go.”It took Smith some convinc-
ing to believe in the usefulness of the powered parachute.
“I remember when we first got it, I was like, ‘What in the world are we going to use that thing for?’ but there’s all kinds of things and it’s opening up a whole new level to our commu-nity in this area.”
He expects the drug task force will use the chopper to photo-graph possible meth labs and says the sky’s the limit on the uses for the vehicle. Other uses include surveys by the Depart-ment of Game and Inland Fish-ery and GPS mapping by Tech’s Engineering Department.
“I’m hoping other depart-ments, fire departments, other
police stations that may have somebody lost or anything like that, they’ll be able to utilize it and I’ll be able to fly it for ‘em.”
> Skies From page 1
Photo by Beverly Amsler
Officer Kenny Smith prepares to fly the powered parachute.
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soll Rand bought it in May of 2008.
Newbern himself proudly led an exclusive tour through the building even pointing out the lactating room for young mothers. Belinda Church, Mr. Pierson’s executive assistant and Training Coordinator said there were currently two women who would use it.
Newbern had a hand in de-signing the building that boasts photovoltaic solar panels that convert direct sunlight into elec-tricity. Roanoke’s Ray Craighead was the architect.
Jason Bingham, former Roa-noke City School Board mem-ber, is Vice President for Trane North America’s Central Ter-ritory. He explained how “the power of this organization is its culture. When you get a cul-ture that is this strong [the staff] fights for it … It’s self-propelled – it’s that flywheel concept.” Bingham’s mission is to take this culture to the 14 states in his ter-ritory.
“[Virginia Trane] is number one against many of the [Trane] businesses of other major cities outside of Virginia.” Three of the five leaders in the Trane North America organization are lo-cated in Virginia. “It shows that they know how to train leaders,” Bingham said.
The guiding principles and mission originated in Roanoke with Jess Newbern. “He’s always there and keeps tabs on it,” said Bingham. “He’s really good at leading you to where you need to be and making you think it’s your idea,” chuckled Church.
Bingham travels about two days a week. His office is in his home and he was adamant about never leaving Roanoke. With a wide grin, Bingham said his wife told him that he “could move if I wanted to and could come back and visit [her] anytime.”
He’d like to rejoin the school board some day when his travel schedule becomes more stable.
Bingham estimated the num-ber of employees in Roanoke at
75 with an expectation that five more will be hired soon. The Trane Corporation has plants in Wisconsin, Colorado, Tennes-see, Kentucky, Florida, Georgia and Minnesota.
Other divisions under the In-gersoll Rand umbrella include air compressors and commer-cial / residential building secu-rity. The Schlage division makes doorknobs for homes, home automation systems, air power tools and to a lesser degree in-dustrial refrigeration. “We have factories all over the globe,” said Bingham. There is some manu-facturing in Mexico but most products are manufactured in the United States.
The new building will mostly house office space and serve the commercial side of Trane while the older Trane building will serve as a distribution center and warehouse for residential equip-ment and parts. The buildings sit adjacent to the former second fairway of the city-owned Coun-tryside Golf Course. Ironically, a
golf cart by Club Car sat in the service garage of the new build-ing. Club Car is another division of Ingersoll Rand.
The service garage also housed a large Trane heating and cool-ing system that will serve to “show off the type of equipment they represent,” said Newbern. Tommy Lawhorn sat next to the system at a computer that con-trolled the building’s tempera-ture, humidity, lights and alarm system. The entire building is computer controlled.
After the move, the old farm-house will be vacant and the building that houses Newbern’s office will become a training/learning classroom for employ-ees. Newbern said he would be interested in the adjacent city-owned golf course property if the storm water issues could be resolved.
> Trane From page 1
By valerie [email protected]
> Assessments From page 1
ments pushed 100%. In 2010 it was at a safe 92%. “It tells me we will need to do something,” said Director of Real Estate Valua-tion Susan Lower.
Real estate assessments peaked in fiscal years 2006-2007 and have dropped each year since.
Lower said 46,000 proper-ties are assessed every year and 11,000 are visited “door to door.” No notices are sent out to prop-erties whose assessment did not change. On Tuesday 18,400 notices were mailed, equating to about half the city this year. The last mass mailing occurred in 2008 when home prices were at their peak.
Property owners receiving notices will see a change in their real estate taxes after July 1. The areas where assessments remain unchanged included Grandin Court, Raleigh Court, Wasena, South Roanoke, Windsor Hills, Old Southwest, and Jefferson Hills.
Low sales and listing prices in other areas contributed to lower
assessments. Volume data was scarce – sales were down 29% for 2011. However, the median sale price has remained un-changed at $133,000 showing stability.
Twenty homes that sold for over $300,000 and one that sold for $1.2 million helped increase the average selling price by 20% in 2011.
Commercial sales volume was down 7.1% with only 26 valid sales. Commercial assess-ments increased slightly at .7%. The lack of data made assess-ments difficult.
On the positive side new construction added to the tax base including: Kohls, Ameri-can Tire Warehouse, the Health Department’s relocation to Wil-liamson Road, Longhorn Steak-house at Valley View, Popeye’s Chicken on Melrose, the Trane/Newbern Warehouse, Dollar General, United Heath Care Renovations, and a new CVS on Plantation Road.
Rehabilitation of the River House, Lofts at West Station,
Lofts at Sixteen West and Fit-ness Center, Community High School, and the Chemsolve renovations also boosted the tax base. Multi-family proper-ties remained unchanged.
Hardest hit areas were those with the most foreclosures. These areas included Northwest and a stretch from Southeast up to Hershberger Road.
Council member Anita Price remarked that there was a need to “evaluate what’s going on in those areas” and that the city needed to evaluate what assis-tance might be needed. Lower said the most popular assistance was going to the large number of elderly in the city through tax freezes. Veteran assistance is also available.
Shawver explained to council that foreclosures put downward pressure on adjacent property values. “It makes a buyers mar-ket and depresses other home values near the foreclosures – it’s a supply and demand issue too,” she said.
Property owner appeals can
be submitted now through January 31. There were 74 ap-peals last year, compared to 230 appeals in 2008 that were made during the housing boom. Low-er’s office is bracing for a pos-sible influx of appeals consider-ing the shear volume of notices being mailed.
Forms are available online and at the Municipal Building in Lowers office on the second floor by the elevators.
Shawver advised citizens to “hang on” through these rocky real estate times. She said she re-alizes it is a double-edged sword – reduced real estate tax versus loss of home value.
Increase in sales tax, meals tax and occupancy tax make up the difference in the real es-tate shortfall. It’s a little early to predict the fiscal year 2013, the budget should come in even with FY 2012.
By valerie [email protected]
> Precinct From page 1
narios. In the end each district’s popula-tion of registered voters was kept to un-der the recommended maximum of 5000. “The state board red flags when a precinct gets over 4000 registered voters,” said Wil-liams.
Also considered were normal boundary landmarks – rivers and streams, railroad tracks and streets. Neighborhood organi-zations were taken into account in defin-ing communities of interest.
Precincts in Raleigh Court and Wasena were the most challenging due to the large population of registered voters and land-mark locations.
The proposed plan would require Reg-istrar Laverne Shepherd to locate two new polling places – one in Northwest that would be west of Peters Creek Road and another around Colonial Avenue. Poten-tial locations have been identified, but it was too early for them to be contacted, said Williams.
Williams explained how the plan would reduce polling stations, resulting in $11,000 of saving in personnel for each election. Additional savings would be realized with a reduction of paid techni-cians. They transport voting machines to the polling places and remain on-call for problems. The goal was to keep the best polling places and maximize access to bus service.
No changes can take effect until Decem-ber 31 of any given year. Included in that time frame would be Department of Jus-tice approval that usually takes 60 days.
After public input, Vice Mayor Dave Trinkle wanted council’s concurrence on the lines followed by selecting the new polling places in time to meet the Decem-ber 31, 2012 deadline. The DOJ would have to approve the realignment before that date.
Acting City Attorney Tim Spencer ex-plained to Councilman Sherman Lea that the DOJ would scrutinize the location of the polling places, the number of voters in each precinct, the racial makeup and the distance from a polling station to each voter in a precinct. It must be no more then one mile. He said that the DOJ also “looks at what type of polling places you have – schools, churches or other. It needs to be an open inviting locale for anyone with any background to come and vote.”
Registrar Laverne Shepherd said she gets calls from the DOJ and they ask her questions especially on distances to poll-ing places. They also make calls to citizens - especially minorities.
Rev. Tinsley said, “this is long overdue.” Gordon Hancock chimed in, lamenting on the difficulty they have had in finding polling places where the “handicapped can roll in and out smoothly – that is a night-
mare.” Williams was praised for ensuring the “difficult to find” polling locations were kept within the redrawn precincts.
Hancock, Rev. Tinsley and Shepherd praised both Harris and Williams for the long hours they put into aligning the pre-cincts.
Should the proposal be approved by De-cember 31, 2012, the first election would be the gubernatorial primary in 2013.
Photo by Valerie Garner
Melvin Williams addresses City Council at Tuesday’s meeting.
By valerie [email protected]
newsRoanoke.com 1/6/12- 1/12/12 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |Page 3
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Caring for a spouse or elderly parent could put you at greater risk for becoming sick or devel-oping a disease. That's accord-ing to a study conducted by the researchers in the Gerontology Department at Virginia Tech.
Karen Roberto and her col-leagues looked at how caregiv-ers-primarily spouses-handle changes caused when their loved one suffers from mild cognitive impairment, and if it’s affecting the caregiver’s health. Roberto say MCI is a decline in one’s ex-ecutive functioning of the brain which doesn’t cause huge inter-ruptions in the patient’s every-day life but is outside the range of normal aging and can lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s dis-ease.
Thirty spouses kept a diary for a week about their feelings, what behaviors the loved one was ex-hibiting at the time, and if there were confrontations, especially between husband and wife.
“We found that, in fact, these spouses in this very early stage
of memory loss were feeling great stress of the changes that was happening in their relation-ships. And so, when we asked them about things that were go-ing on in their lives, there was heightened, oftentimes stress and anxiety.”
She thinks the stress is linked to the change in behavior of the person with the illness. “One of the things that often occurs with MCI is that the person may appear more apathetic. So that they don’t take initiative. And so, there’s maybe stepping back some and so the spouse sort of has to have a watchful eye.”
According to Roberto, the caregiver may not realize this is a symptom of the disease and they want their loved one to “just try harder”.
The researchers also collected saliva to look at biomarkers for physiological changes and found the caregivers’ cortisol levels increased as a reaction to stress.
“When there were these diffi-
culties, that we saw spikes in the changes in physiological mea-sures. And we also saw greater reports of daily stress. And that leads us to say that even though by definition MCI is said to have little or no major changes in daily life, it’s enough of a change that is causing disruption to the family.”
Roberto says if the caregiver lives apart from the family mem-ber, they take that stress with them, which could complicate their home life and over time, possibly put them at a greater risk for contracting a disease. She hopes to use the research as a way for communities to help create a support system for care-givers.
“You see this with really adult children. It’s sort of that pileup of stressors. So you have mul-tiple roles and you’re kind of on multiple pathways in your life. So you’re mom or dad to may-be young or teenage children. You’re in a relationship with your partner. And then you
have Mom or Dad that you’re concerned about it. And so, that can be very stressful.”
“What we’re hoping to really look at in the future is interven-tions that will really help people, one-understand what is hap-pening in this early stage, and then look more towards how the family as well as the community can provide support for those individuals.”
Roberto says they want to do a larger study and determine if men and women are affected differently in their roles as care-giver.
Caregiver Stress Addressed in New Study
Literacy Organization Takes New NameTo reflect the growth in programs and in geo-
graphical outreach beyond the Roanoke Valley, the area’s largest non-profit adult literacy program has adopted a new name as of January 1.
Blue Ridge Literacy is the new name of the re-gional organization formerly known as Literacy Volunteers of Roanoke Valley.
According to Russ Merritt, Executive Direc-tor of Blue Ridge Literacy, “This has always been an outstanding organization, doing very special work for a lot of people who need our services. Now, our new name and the ancillary branding should help us tell the literacy story better than we ever have before.”
Molly Bell,. President of the Board of Directors of Blue Ridge Literacy, noted that “since early last year, our Board and staff have been considering how we can best communicate who we are and all that we do. In September a group of marketing professionals in our area, through an organiza-tion called Ad Fed, helped us create a whole new brand.”
Bell noted the strong foundation and continuity of the literacy organization over the past 26 years.
“The well-trained and deeply committed volun-teer tutors have always been critical to our opera-tion and success,” she said. “We continue to rely on those volunteers to deliver much of our pro-gram, but we now also have an expanded number of group classes and literacy computer lab op-portunities. As the community has changed, the needs of those adults seeking to learn to read and write English have also changed, and we’re chang-ing to meet those new realities.”
The new name will also reflect the organization’s new services to areas outside the Roanoke Valley. “We will soon be providing non-profit, low cost or no-cost literacy programming in several sur-rounding counties,” Merritt said.
However, even with the name change, Merritt emphasized that the mission of the organization stays the same. “Our mission is to teach English literacy skills to adults and to raise literacy aware-ness, still in the Roanoke Valley, but now through-out the Blue Ridge region as well.”
For more information, contact Blue Ridge Lit-eracy at 265-9339.
Eye Care Specialists Come Together To Meet Emergency Needs
Carilion Clinic, Vistar Eye Center, Eye Care & Surgery and Blue Ridge Eye Center will collaborate to provide emergency and in-patient eye care to patients at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospi-tal. The agreement includes the provision of 24/7 on-call service for Carilion’s Level-1 trauma program, along with general and retinal ophthal-mologic care for emergency/urgent care and hospitalized patients.
“We’re pleased to be work-ing with these excellent phy-sicians,” said Carilion Clinic President and Chief Execu-tive Officer Nancy Agee. “To-gether we can coordinate our focus on the needs of our pa-tients.”
The three physician groups will continue as independent practices, but will collabo-
rate with Carilion’s trauma and emergency programs to further advance the level and quality of eye care in the re-gion.
"We are looking forward to fostering a partnership with Carilion to improve upon the community's emergency eye care needs," said Jon Brisley, M.D., Managing Partner with Vistar Eye Center. "Patient care has and continues to be of utmost importance to our practice."
"This collaborative agree-ment is essential to providing excellent and comprehensive care to all patients at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, and particularly those pa-tients in the emergency de-partment. We are excited to be able to participate," says William Thompson, M.D. of Eye Care & Surgery.
The physicians participat-ing in the collaboration in-clude:
Eugene H. Eng, M.D., Carey W. Robinson, M.D., and William M. Thompson, M.D., with Eye Care & Sur-gery; Chad Albright, M.D., Jon Brisley, M.D., Timothy Byrnes, M.D., Frank Cotter, M.D., John Facciani, M.D., Kurt Guelzow, M.D., Craig Hartranft, M.D., John Hines, M.D., David Kinsler, M.D., Scott Strelow, M.D., Ken-neth Tuck, M.D., and John R. Wood, M.D. with Vistar Eye Center; and Joseph S. Weis-man, M.D. with Blue Ridge Eye Center.
Science Museum Director Sees Tech Partnership as “Wave of the Future”As Jim Rollings, the new ex-
ecutive director of the Science Museum of Western Virginia explains it, the museum needed to find new ways of doing things - or perhaps diminish in impor-tance.
Accordingly, a task force study committee was launched to study how other science mu-seums and universities were working in partnership—only to find that the kind of affilia-tion that eventually emerged between the Roanoke-based organization and nearby Vir-ginia Tech didn’t exist. The col-laborations that did involved the university assisting the mu-seum with specific projects or educational programs, or the university completely owning the museum. Hence, with no preexisting model to study, the task force had no choice but to create the model itself.
In October, an agreement forging the new relationship between Tech and the Science Museum was signed, whereby essentially the university ac-quires access to the audience the Science Museum has developed over the years, and the museum gains access to the content, programming and technology found on the Blacksburg cam-pus.
Rollings explains that the focus of the new Tech-Science Museum partnership will be on university students. “You can imagine graduate students conducting studies for their classes that involve the Science Museum location [or] Science Museum audiences. That’s aca-demic content that you can also put into that mix—things like a speakers series that brings noted folks from the university campus here.”
Rollings says the partnership is a two-way street: “in return, you can also look at the Science
Museum having access to…the general public [and] educators in the public school system, ad-ministrators that we have every-day relationships with because of our long ties with the school systems. [Now] Virginia Tech, by partnering with us, can talk with the same kind of ease that we already do.”
Though the Tech-Science Museum partnership is still vir-tually brand new, some activi-ties are already ongoing - one of which, involving robotics, which Rollings characterizes as “one of the outstanding ar-eas in Virginia Tech research.” Tech and the Science Museum “can [also] reach students who need additional support. And, of course, we’re already talking about where research can come into play to help determine how effective [the] Science Museum education [program is].”
Regarding academics for Tech students, Rollings calls it “a wide open subject, but ar-eas that come immediately to mind would include students conducting research as a class assignment for a grade that in-volves audiences and activities taking place in the Science Mu-seum,” and exhibit development where students “would be able to study what type of exhibits
might be developed that will achieve a certain educational goal.” This type of research can be shared with all science muse-ums.
The life span of the current Tech-Science Museum partner-ship is two years, which Roll-ings feels will be sufficient to determine if the affiliation is mutually beneficial. “Assum-ing that it does, and we’re mak-ing every effort to make sure that that partnership will go on, it will expand into all areas of what the Science Museum is doing.” Rollings believes that in a few years, other universities and science centers will look at the Tech-Science Museum partnership and ask, “how are you doing that?’ That looks like it’s working pretty well. Can we use it as a model? We believe this partnership can become a model for other universities and science museums, in terms of educational delivery. I think it’s the wave of the future.”
Current plans for the Science Museum, now located on the upper level of Tanglewood Mall, are for it to return to its original home in 2013, with the comple-tion of Center in The Square’s current renovation.
“We’re adding classrooms that we’ve never had before,” says Rollings, “and we are con-ducting our own fundraising campaign to the tune of about $5 million, to rebuild and re-start every exhibit in the place.” Most of the latter will be brand new—which Rollings feels will transform the Science Museum into “perhaps the number one attraction downtown - at least for our opening year and pos-sibly beyond that.”
By Melvin E. Matthews, [email protected]
Low- to moderate-income City of Roanoke residents with disabilities may be eligible for assistance with home modifi-cations through funding the City of Roanoke has awarded to the Blue Ridge Independent Living Center.
The funding is intended to assist individuals with dis-abilities to remain indepen-dent within their own homes. Ramps, grab bars, widening of doorways are just some of the home modifications that can be completed.
The Blue Ridge Independent Living Center is a private, non-profit organization that assists individuals with disabilities to be independent and also works with the community to ensure it is accessible.
To determine if you are eli-gible for financial assistance or for further information about Center services call 540-342-1231 (v/tty).
Assistance Available for Residents with Disabilities
Science Museum Director Jim Rollings.
By Beverly Amsler [email protected]
PersPectivePage 4 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 1/6/12 -1/12/12 newsRoanoke.com
Keeping Time Our ServantAs we begin a new
year, my fascination with the concept
of time is reawakened. Many years ago I had the privilege of interviewing the late Harry Race, retired engineer and professor at Virginia West-ern Community College. The purpose of the interview was to learn about his hobby, col-lecting and repairing clocks, but I found that his real obsession was his fascination with the concept of time itself.
“What is Time? Nobody knows. It can’t be perceived by any of the senses. You can’t see it, hear it, touch it, smell or taste it, yet it can be measured more precisely than any material substance. You can’t define it without referring to its measurement.” he said, and I was intrigued. So much so that I spent ten years research-ing, collecting information re-lated to this enigma.
Throughout the centuries, mankind has focused on di-viding time into smaller and smaller segments in order to manage it completely. Modern life – everything from the col-ored lights that direct traffic to space craft navigation – de-pends on the accuracy of time measurement.
Our technological world de-mands this precise timekeep-ing. All modern transporta-tion -- space ships, airplanes, trains, ocean-going vessels -- depend upon accurate time signals to prevent accidents and to coordinate schedules. Navigators of ships in the air or on the sea put their faith in signals from satellites accurate to a microsecond to plot their location. NASA's space probes are guided by radio signals timed to nanoseconds.
All modes of communica-tion require this precise tim-ing, too. Radio and television stations use atomic clocks to time broadcasts. According to NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technol-ogy) scientist David Allan, if the workers at the NIST labo-
ratories took the day off "we would lose all radio, televi-sion and data transmission. In short, we would shut down the world. We [at NIST] are responsible for the generation of the second in the U.S. We generate time."
If you think this sounds complicated and difficult to understand, you are not alone! As technology increases the
gap grows wider between ordinary people who use the marvelous new products and the scientists and tech-nicians who create them. This can have a profound effect on our lives.
In Colonial America, people made all their clothing -- from
shearing the sheep to sewing the clothes. They made their candles, bread, houses -- ev-erything. Yet they seemed to have time for games and read-ing and weddings that lasted for several days. Today, we have a multitude of timesav-ers -- microwaves, automatic washers, airplanes, just to name a few. Yet we never seem to have enough time.
Ironically, the effort to con-trol time and make it our ser-vant seems to have backfired. In our modern, technological age, we have become slaves to the clock. Our constant race with time creates stress, which in turn contributes to a great number of physical and emo-tional problems.
Scientists have learned that our bodies entrain to the rhythm of life about us. When the tempo increases, we go right along with it. Perhaps your toes have begun to tap when a band is playing, keep-ing time with the music. You are entrained to the music.
Before the mechanical clock was invented, and even for several centuries afterward, people were entrained to the rhythms of nature, or natural time. Life was planned around the rising and setting of the sun, the cycles of the moon and the seasons of the year.
The mechanical clock cre-
ated artificial, clock time. The clock does not depend upon movement of the planet, but ticks out the same seconds, minutes, and hours, whether it is day or night. For over seven centuries, people did not have great difficulty keeping the two times in sync. Gradually, more people moved to urban areas where they worked in factories. The tempo of life increased. Time became a commodity, something to be bought and sold. Once work-ers punched the time clock, their time belonged to the fac-tory owner. "Time is money; don't waste it!" became a rule to live by. Factory managers concentrated on ways to in-crease efficiency, producing more in less time.
Electric lights made it pos-sible to operate the factories around the clock, with three eight-hour shifts. Workers on the evening shifts had to adjust to a different schedule, creating stress -- physical, mental and emotional. Family schedules had to be adjusted, spreading the stress to wives and children.
Just as the clock ushered in the Industrial Revolution, the computer has ushered in a new Technological Revolu-tion. Change occurs so rap-idly it is difficult for people to adjust and the gap continues to widen between computer time and natural time. E-mail allows friends and family to keep in touch throughout the world. Business conferences can be held online while all those involved remain in their own offices. But it's difficult for persons to relate to one another without face-to-face encounters.
Technology provides a bet-ter life in many ways, includ-ing advances in medical pro-cedures, food production and education, to name a few. But the downside is losing touch with the natural world. What can we do to keep time our servant? The answer may lie in learning to "take time out." We must consciously limit the time we spend on the comput-er or watching television and set aside time to allow our-selves to entrain to the natu-ral world. C a m p i n g (without electronics!) is one activity that makes this pos-sible. Planting flowers or veg-etables and watching their de-velopment also help us keep in touch with nature. Participat-ing in active sports instead of watching TV or playing video games constantly will help us develop physically and social-ly.
Do one thing at a time. Don't try to read and watch television or listen to a ball game on the radio at the same time. Research shows that you will remember more when you concentrate on one thing at a time. Learn to slow down. If you feel rushed, close your eyes and take a deep breath.
Dr. Stephan Rechtschaffen, founder of the Omega Insti-tute for Holistic Studies, calls this downshifting, like shifting gears on an automobile to go more slowly. Sometimes we need to be in high gear, using a lot of energy to accomplish work. But our bodies also need a slower pace at times so we can relax. Too often we rely on medication to cure the physical and emotional prob-lems brought on by stress.
The beginning of the year is a good time to examine our activities and decide which are most important and to allow time for this "downshifting" to keep us healthy in this modern age. Only then will we regain control of our lives, keeping time as our servant in lieu of our master.
A Father's Diary: Understanding My Son
Cailan didn't want to go to school. I knew it the moment I
roused him from sleep the other morning and he looked at me blankly and said, "Who are you, mister?"
I met this passive insurgency with restraint. He then proceeded to ques-tion the air before him with uncertain fingers. "Where are you, mis-ter?"
His sight was gradu-ally restored, if you con-sider double-vision a restoration. "Which one is the real you, mister? The one on the right or the left?" And then, "What's causing this, mister?"
"Staying up so late at night watching TV that you don't want to go to school. That's what's causing it. But don't worry, it's not fatal. Unless you push your luck, MISTER!"
...I'm starting to sound like my
father, a common end to most parents. I tell Chester and Cai-lan, "Hey! Let's turn off thirty lights or so. Y'know, about half of them."
Ye Gods and ministers of grace, I'm wearing sunglasses in the house, there's such a glare! No reason Appalachian Power should be swept into the Fortune 500 just cuz these two won't turn off the lights, TV's, tapes, VCR's and Segas when
done with them.Nothing kids today fear more
than a power failure; they live in constant fear.
...Cailan was rebelling. His
mother was trying to justify her unrelenting parental oversight
of homework, sensible bedtime, salutary diet and the like. "Look, Cailan, here is Mother A: She doesn't care if you eat junk food; doesn't care if you do any homework and doesn't care if you don't get enough sleep. And here is Mother B:
like me, concerned about those things. Which would you rather have? Cailan!? Cailan?!"
"I'm thinking about it!""Cailan!""Mom A has got some real
possibilities..." Well, at last he admitted that he would rather have Mother B, but it was a photo finish. He was a man convinced against his will, as was summa-rized in his later confession : "I'm an A kid with a B mom."
…Occasionally, Cailan likes
school: holidays, teacher confer-ences, field trips. On these days, he holds the educative process in an undiluted esteem. For the balance of the school term how-ever, he would as soon go to his grave unlettered. And so he falls asleep in class. A lot. His desk has an air bag; his chair, a head
rest. Rip Van Garvin. Well, Cailan marshaled all of
his talents and did not lose con-sciousness for the better part of a semester.
For this tour de force, he re-ceived a coveted honor at the end of the school term. "Staying Awake in Class, Some" was in-scribed on the plaque bestowed during an especially moving ceremony, most of which Cailan slept through.
His mother and I are so very proud.
…I'm telling Cailan about
George Washington; trying to demonstrate that honesty, if not the best policy, is certainly worth a shot if you can't think of an-other angle.
"Well of course he told the truth about the Cherry Tree, Dad!" rebuts my son, a ruthless dialectician with a firm grip on the proceedings, "His father catches up with him holding a running chain saw, sawdust in his hair and yelling, `Timm-mmm - berrrrrrrr!!' Of course he's gonna tell the truth; does he think his fathers a idgit?! That's not the time for a lie; that's the time for a plea bargain!”
`Pithily said,' I mutter to my-self, my lesson gone awry. He is persuaded of his unquestioned eminence in parent-child de-bate. Probably gone off to get a mallet and a wooden stake for me...
...I have known Cailan for years;
weathered many a developmen-tal cycle. For example he was once Cailan the Cosmic Cadet. He would walk by me space helmet on his head, molecular atomizer in hand - set on `stun' - ranging far into the neigh-borhood to seek his prey; and would dismiss me as an enemy not worth stalking by sticking out his tongue and saying, "Th-bbbbbit, earthling." [My son has no suppressed emotions.] At times like this, he is as much fun as a pinched nerve.
Lucky Garvin
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Local Crossword for 1/6/2012
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14
15 16 17
18 19 20 21
22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
33 34 35 36
37 38 39 40
41 42 43
44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51
52 53 54 55
56 57 58
59 60 61
www.CrosswordWeaver.com
ACROSS
1 Owed 4 Rabbit 9 Honey maker
12 Flightless bird 13 Give off 14 Limited (abbr.) 15 Abridged (abbr.) 16 Eagle's nest 17 Cease 18 Entrances 20 This Inn takes care of all the Greyhound drivers
and is near the corner of Williamson and Orange.
22 Snake like fish 24 Males 25 Tie knot
29 Capital of Bangladesh 33 Shoddy 34 Bar 36 Coffee and Tea shop open 7 days a week on
Grandin Rd. in Roanoke. 37 Wall picture 39 Inert 41 Marry 43 North northeast 44 Severe 48 Dimwit 52 Canoe propeller 53 Greeting 55 Pub 56 Which local business says 'If water runs through
it we've got it!' 57 Twice 58 Wrath
59 Km/h 60 ----- home improvement of roanoke 61 Compass point
DOWN
1 Deceased 2 Convexity 3 We smooth the wrinkles out - ---- specialty. 4 Hires 5 Cutting tool 6 Happy cat sound 7 Expression 8 Wanted 9 Puffed
10 Volcano 11 Whirl 19 Draws again 21 Founded 23 Chop 25 Typing rate 26 Note of debt 27 Neither's partner 28 Turn tail 30 Dog 31 Accountant 32 American sign language 35 TV lawyer Matlock 38 Fatal 40 Worker's organizations 42 San __ (CA city) 44 Wharf 45 Inclined plane 46 Flex 47 Animals talon 49 Wading bird 50 Paddles 51 It was re-planted in the middle of Carolina
Avenue where it didn’t belong in the first place 54 Tell a tall tale
Star-Sentinel Crossword
By Don WaterfieldFind the answers online: NewsRoanoke.com
Have a clue and answer you’d like to see?email: [email protected]
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The Preacher’s Corner - The Real Reason for The WorkBy Ed Dunnington
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Predicting the FutureHow does one do that?
With unlimited hu-bris . . . that’s the an-
swer. Some years ago, I heard a well-known TV evangelist rattle off a list of predictions on his New Year’s Sunday program. It got my attention; I don’t remem-ber any of the things he mentioned, but they were all impressive, cataclysmic, and from a “reliable source.” He paused for effect then said they were from the year just ended . . . and not one of them had happened. His point was, I suppose, that we shouldn’t buy into the doomsday scenario but follow his sugges-tions for a better way of living.
Looking back at 2011 has been done to the point of trite-ness, but I could not resist a few of my favorites.
The media—can’t live with them and shouldn’t try to live without them. My favorite for hype occurred on April 1(ap-propriately, the day of fools) when Terry Jones of Florida had his moment in the spotlight with threatening to burn the Qur’an. The major fool was not Mr. Jones, but the media who nearly started World War III with their incessant and hyper-bolic reporting. Had it not been for them, no one, not even the Muslims, would have given him a moment’s notice. The world is full of nutcases; we need not award them an international forum.
Who among us cannot mar-vel at the wonders of Congress? Never has there been a truer case when all was said and done,
much more had been said than done. I heard on NPR that in terms of legislation signed into law, the 112th Congress was the worst in history. Only 80 bills were passed. You can count on one hand (and still have fingers left over) the meaningful ac-
tions. They avoided a government shutdown minutes before the witching hour. The payroll tax relief got extended, also at the last second. The Super Committee couldn’t agree on anything ex-cept they were not “su-
per.” The bipartisan conversation was to-tally mean-spirited
on both sides. Of the 80 bills that became law, the vast ma-jority of them were trivial. One of the most common was the naming of various post offices around the country. The anal-ogy of Nero and his fiddling while Rome burned does not seem far off the mark.
Arab Spring--it turned into summer, fall and now winter. The hopes that all would settle down were never grounded in reality. That despots have been removed cannot be underval-ued but what will take years to sort out what will take their place. For the most part, the United States has been in the background but by no means inconsequential. Without our support, Libya would never have happened. Syria and many other Arab states are teetering on the brink of radical change and engaging in killing their own people.
We’re out of Iraq and leav-ing Afghanistan; the ethnic
cleansing has already started in Baghdad. While I am not in a position to know, many in Iraq say the troop surge had little to do with the decrease in Shi-ite/Sunni violence. I was told by an army general that a lot of American money changed hands to have them stop killing each other. That it has escalated so quickly after our departure would seem to lend credence to that idea. Sadr City is back in the news.
The world was supposed to come to an end in 2011. . . twice, actually. Of course, we now know that it really will happen on 12/21/2012, according to the Maya calendar. I wonder if the Mayans accurately predicted their own culture’s demise. There’s even an acronym for the date: TEOTWAWKI—the end of the world as we know it. I am somewhat alarmed that my spellcheck recognizes that as a real word; maybe my computer has an inside track from the Cloud.
Obviously, no one can pre-dict the future although there are plenty who will take your money and give you answers. I can say, without fear of contra-diction, that the last year was a mess and 2012 holds potential to be even worse. To end on a note of optimism, each of us should try making our tiny part of the world better. That can’t hurt and, who knows, good things might happen.
"Well, that movie ruined the story! It was nothing like the book." Perhaps you have spoken those words or have heard them from a friend. None of us like having a beloved story or book changed drastically.
Recently I read a story that was "ruined" as a beloved story of its day. Jesus told a story in which the landowner got some workers at 6 am, another group at 9 am, more at noon, then 3 pm and a final group came at 5 pm. When the work day ended, at 6 pm, the landowner paid each worker the same wage, a denarius, the cost of living for a family for a day in the Ancient Near East. (see Matthew 20:1-16)
Jesus actually took a familiar story and changed it. In the 1st century there were several stories in Jewish literature that had the following storyline. A king hired some workman to
work in his vineyard. A particu-lar laborer impressed the king with his skill. As a result, after a couple hours of working, the king pulled him from his post and spent the rest of the day walking and talking with him. When it came time for everyone to get paid, his laborer received the same wage as everyone else. When the other laborers grumbled the king said, “What cause have you for grumbling? This man in two hours did more good work than you in a whole day.” (Eccl. Rab 5.11.5; Jer. Ber. 2:5c; Cant. Rab. 6.2.6)
Now, you can tell right away how Jesus “messed up” this sto-ry. The emphasis is supposed to be the amount of work that a la-borer completes. The man gets the same wage BECAUE HE DID THE SAME AMOUNT OF WORK. But, this is the an-tithesis of what Jesus wants us to learn.
Jesus wants the disciples to understand that their position before God is according to the generosity of God, not accord-ing to their work in the vineyard. Jesus does not NEED the dis-ciples to accomplish His earthly ministry. Jesus calls them to fol-low Him and in responding to that call, they get the blessing of being a part of His great work of redemption.
In speaking about the last workers’, author, Jerry Bridges writes, “They needed to work more than the landowner needed their work. He hired them, not because of his need, but because of their need. He represents God in His gracious awareness of our needs and His continuous work to meet them. God calls us to serve Him, not because He needs us, but be-cause we need Him. Then His reward for our service is always out of proportion to our efforts
as Jesus said to Peter, “a hun-dred times as much” (Matthew 19:29).”
As we begin this new year, many of us will strive to do more, read more, pray more, serve more and give more to Je-sus in 2012. I pray that it is the desire of many of you - to grow in grace through making use of the means of grace. But my concern is that many of us will do it out of a motivation to earn the Lord's favor this year. This story reminds us to make sure we are rooted in the gospel and that our activity flows out of our understanding of the generosity of God towards His people.
Ed Dunnington is the Senior Pastor at Christ the King Presby-terian Church in Roanoke. Visit their website at www.ctkroanoke.org.
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Let Us Now Praise Our National BirdYou're probably
thinking it's the Bald Eagle. He's
been on our stuff forever. In 1782, Congress approved a design for a Great Seal which featured an Eagle, holding in his right talons an olive branch representing peace, and in his left tal-ons 13 arrows rep-resenting war. That symbolism has been constantly updated and inte-grated into many of the na-tion's symbols, including the Presidential Seal, and onto much of our currency. (Over the years, the Eagle's face has variously been turned to the left, or to the right, which has spawned an urban legend that the Great Seal is con-stantly updated in response to whether the nation is at war or at peace. Not true.) So, yeah, the Bald Eagle is of-ficially our bird.
But if you go back to the original version of the Great Seal, you'll find the Eagle wasn't rendered very well. He looks a little dopey. He's a bit of a, um, Turkey. Which caused at least one Founding Father to question whether we'd chosen the right bird.
Ben Franklin, writing a let-ter to his daughter, said, "For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not
get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the
Labour of the Fish-ing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pur-
sues him and takes it from him. For the Truth, the
Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America. He is be-sides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack
a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."
But - too late Ben - the decision had already been made, and the Turkey had lost out. However, Turkeys have proven resilient, and more beloved than Eagles in at least one respect: they sure are tasty. In the 1960's, while Bald Eagles were being wiped out by DDT, Turkeys became ubiquitous. We eat over 45 Million of them every year. So in that respect you could say the Turkey IS our nation-al bird, at least during the holidays.
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Roanoke County Starts New Year With New Library
A Resolution From Your Pharmacist: Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet
As the New Year begins, and healthy resolutions are made, the American Pharmacists As-sociation (APhA) is encourag-ing Americans to clean out their medicine cabinets. Pharmacists recommend patients clean out their medicine cabinets once a year to dispose of all the unused and expired medications that accumulated over the previous year. This once a year tradition will help keep everyone safe and healthy. Unused medications have the potential to be abused and misused and expired medi-cations can lose their potency thus reducing or providing no value to the condition being treated.
“Over the course of a year, we can accumulate many medica-tions to treat colds, headaches
and infections, as well as more se-rious conditions,” stated Thomas Menighan, CEO and Executive Vice President, APhA. “These medications play an important role in helping patients obtain better health and wellness, but if we do not store and dispose of them properly, they can become a hazard. When they fall into the wrong hands, these medications have the potential to be abused, and if improperly disposed of, they can harm wildlife, pets and other people. Make sure to talk to your pharmacist about the best storage of medications in your household, the length of time a medication should be kept and the efficacy of that medication past its expiration date.”
Prescription drug abuse is the Nation’s fastest-growing drug
problem. While there has been a marked decrease in the use of some illegal drugs like cocaine, data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NS-DUH), show that nearly one-third of people aged 12 and over, who used drugs for the first time in 2009, began by using a pre-scription drugs non-medically. The National Institute on Drug Abuse tells us that every day in the US, an average of 2,000 teen-agers use prescription medica-tion for the first time without a physician's guidance. The same NSDUH survey found that over 70% of people who abused pre-scription pain relievers got them from friends or relatives.
Tips for Storing and Cleaning Out Your Medicine Cabinet or Other Medication Storage Ar-eas:
· Medications should be stored in a secured area – up, away and out of site of children and teen-agers - that has low humidity, a stable temperature and adequate lighting.
· Check the date on every-thing in your medicine cabinet and dispose of anything that has passed the expiration date.
· Dispose of anything you have not used in the past 12 months or that you no longer need. Do not share medications with oth-ers.
· Dispose of medicines that are no longer in their original container, have changed color or odor, or that can no longer be identified.
· Do not flush unused or ex-pired medications and do not pour them down a sink or drain. They should be disposed of properly in the household trash or through your community’s medication disposal program, when available. Talk to your pharmacist or visit www.smarxt-disposal.net for tips on how to properly dispose of your medi-cations.
Roanoke County opened its first headquarters library in al-most 40 years on Wednesday with a brief dedication ceremo-ny. The “South County,” as the new library is called, is located in southwest Roanoke County at 6303 Merriman Road, di-rectly across from Penn Forest Elementary School.
“We’ve listened to what people say they wanted in their new library and incorporated ev-erything and more,” said Diana Rosapepe, Director or Roanoke County Public Libraries.
In addition to plenty of much-needed elbow room for staff and patrons, South County boasts 223 parking spaces (the 419 Li-brary had 83), a drive-through book pick-up window, after-hours book lockers, a whimsical new children’s area, and a teen center. Patrons can also enjoy a fireplace on either floor. Access to the second floor is either by a wide center stairway or elevator.
The Commons adjoins the library and includes two large meeting rooms, a 200-seat audi-torium, the Friends of the Roa-
noke County Public Library gift shop, and a coffee house operat-ed by Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea. There will be drive-through service for the coffee shop as well. Outdoor seating will be available during the warmer months.
“People need to check the library’s calendar of events for additional programming this month, which includes Civil War historian Bud Robertson, antiques and collectibles dealer Ken Farmer, well- known poet Nikki Giovanni. For more Info visit : www.yourlibrary.us.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Pictured (L-R) Diana Rosapepe, Clay Goodman, Congressman Bob Goodlatte, Delegate Greg Ha-beeb, Butch Church, Charlotte Moore, Richard Flora, -Mike Altizer, Diane Hyatt; and Jim Nelson.
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Pork Wraps with Tomatillo Salsa Time to start the New Year
on the right foot with healthy eating! The first step is to know your weakness. My biggest problem is that I love salty, starchy foods. Another prob-lem I have is I get busy and don’t eat and then by late after-noon I am starving and craving bad things so I tear into some unhealthy stuff.
The answer is to find solu-tions for your weaknesses or problems. So I have on hand healthy whole grain and rice snacks that help with my snacky, bread and salt cravings. Secondly, I have begun to eat a good breakfast and lunch so I do not get so hungry that I go after all the bad stuff late in the day.
Of course, all these weak-nesses fall under one BIG weakness – LACK OF SELF CONTROL. (Also known as DISCIPLINE - a derivative of the root word “Disciple.”) As much as we may believe and say temperance is a good thing, I don’t see us living that way – we always want more, the fact that the stores open at 6:00 am, the day after Christmas says we are not satisfied with the out of control over-consumption of the previous day.
Practicing temperance and being happy about doing good things for my health may be the best way to fight my weak-nesses. Of course, knowing it is the right and good thing to do should be enough, but life is full of easy temptations so we don’t “stick to our guns” very well when we are surrounded by chips and dip. We have to be aware of our natural tenden-cies to desire more and more and make an intentional effort to foster what our better nature
tells us. Of course this goes for more than just eating habits.
So this year surround your-self with good things - foods that are good for you, good friends who love you, good books, (especially The Good Book!) good times that are meant to be cherished and your good family that God put before you.
Shopping for the right foods and making healthy recipes for your family can be something exciting and new to discover. Have fun with it - and know that it is a great and rewarding challenge!
Try out this healthy wrap, it is a wonderful and delicious lunch or dinner option.
2 large tomatillos 1/2 cup chopped cucumber 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided 1 garlic clove, peeled 1 pound boneless pork cutlets, cut into thin strips 1 teaspoon ground cumin Cooking spray 2 medium poblano chiles, stemmed, seeded, and cut into thin strips 1 medium onion, vertically
sliced 4 (8-inch) fat-free flour tor-tillas 1/2 cup low-fat sour cream stemmed, seeded, and cut into thin strips 1 medium onion, vertically sliced 4 (8-inch) fat-free flour tor-tillas 1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
-Discard husks and stems from tomatillos. Combine tomatillos, cucumber, cilantro, lime juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and garlic in a blender. Process until finely chopped, and set aside.
-Sprinkle pork with cumin. Place a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until hot. Add pork; cook 3 minutes or until no longer pink in center, stirring occasionally. Remove from pan; keep warm.
-Coat pan with cooking spray; add chiles and onion. Coat vegetables with cooking spray; cook 4 minutes or until onion begins to brown, stirring frequently.
-Meanwhile, heat tortillas ac-cording to package directions.
-Return pork to pan; add remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and cook 30 seconds or until the pork mixture is thoroughly heated, stirring constantly.
-Divide pork mixture evenly among tortillas. Top each with about 1/3 cup salsa; roll up. Serve with sour cream.
City Invites Residents to be "Mile Markers"Have you made your New
Year's Resolution yet? If not, The Roanoke City Parks and Recreation Department is ask-ing Roanokers to consider par-ticipating in the Roanoke 100 Miler program. The format is simple: Log 100 miles worth of exercise in 100 days. Any "hu-man-powered" activity is fair game: walking, running, hik-ing, biking, paddling, blades, etc. You can't ride horses, and you can't use anything motor-ized.
"We just want to get people active and outdoors to keep them healthy and fit," says Outdoor Event Specialist Joe Hanning, who's leading the program. Hanning says he prefers that folks try to get out-side, but recognizes that some days are just too cold. When that's the case, it's OK to walk at the mall or to use treadmills or exercise bikes.
The Roanoke 100 Miler starts on Jan. 7, 2012, and ends April 15. A kick-off event will be held on Saturday, Jan. 7, at 10 a.m. on the Roanoke River Greenway in Wasena Park. On that day, participants are invited to come out for the announcement of the pro-gram's start, and walk across the bridge to Vic Thomas Park where they can log their first mile on the greenway. In the case of inclement weather, the announcement will be held in the Wasena Park shelter.
The program has a nomi-nal fee: $19 if you want an official 100 Miler t-shirt, $9 if you skip the shirt. The pre-ferred way to sign up is via the dedicated website, www.
Roanoke100Miler.com, where you'll find a link to Parks and Rec's ActiveNet enrollment system.
During the program, Han-ning will communicate with participants through email messages from "Active Andy" - the official event mascot - who will be everyone's exer-cise buddy for the duration of the program. The messages will offer fitness tips and other information to help keep folks motivated through the winter.
There will be a series of ran-
dom prize drawings through-out the program period. How-ever, prizes will not be linked to mileage benchmarks, since participants will monitor their own progress and can complete the 100 miles at any time.
The Roanoke 100 Miler pro-gram is sponsored by Fleet Feet Sports. To learn more, visit www.Roanoke100Miler.com, or contact Joe Hanning at 540-853-1276.
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Cave Spring Downs Salem 58-45 in River Ridge Opener
Wild Bill’s Weekly Sports Roundup
Holiday Basketball Tournaments Showcase Area Teams
(Above) Patrick Henry's #5 Marcus Banks hits a runner in the Patriots's 27-point win over Alleghany. PH's only loss came at the hands of tournament-champion Gar-Field.
(Right) Cave Spring senior #14 Aaron Cupp knocks down a free throw in the last minute of overtime in the Knight's win over Hidden Valley.
William Fleming #30 Warren Craft (in white) applies defensive pressure against Gar-Fields #24 Curtis Lovitt in the K-Guard Clas-sic title game won by Gar-Field 58-51 at the Salem Civic Center.
Northside's #52 Todd Dunbar connects on a free throw in the Viking's convincing 81-56 win over E.C. Glass for third place in the Northside Invitational.
(Above) Hidden Valley #4 Malik Williams hits a jumper on his way to a career-high, 34-point performance in the K-Guard Classic.
It's time for the curtain to rise. High school basketball moved into high gear this week as district competition began. We'll now separate the pretend-ers from the contenders as the road to Richmond plays out to the VHSL Final-Four in March.
Over the holidays we got a good look at most teams com-peting around the area. Here's a look at what went down in the "Wild Bill Big-11."
Gar-Field solidly took home the gold in the K-Guard Holi-
day Classic held at the Salem Civic Center. The Indians de-feated William Fleming (2-1 in tournament) in Friday night's championship 58-51. In the three-game format, Salem went 2-1 including the third-place win over Broadway. Patrick Henry finished 2-1, falling only to Gar-Field Thursday night. Cave Spring (1-2) took seventh place with an overtime win over Hidden Valley (0-3).
Across town, the home court Vikings soundly defeated E.C.
Glass 81-56 to go 2-1 in the Northside Invitational, good for third place. William Byrd (1-2) won its second game of the season with an overtime vic-tory over Brookville to capture seventh.
In girl's holiday tournament action, Millbrook de-feated Salem to capture the Big Blue Winter Basketball Tournament Championship hosted by William Fleming. The Lady Colonels of Fleming and Lady Pa-triots from Patrick Henry joined Salem as all three teams finished 2-1 in the 8-team event.
In the six-team Cave Spring Invitational round-robin event, Hidden Valley and Lord Bote-tourt both finished 3-0. North-side came in at 1-2, while the Lady Knights of Cave Spring went 0-3 and are still looking for their first win of the season.
In the boys Wild Bill 'Big-11'
Top-5, changes took place after Tuesday night's district open-ers.
#1- Patrick Henry- The Pa-triots suffered their first loss of the season to Gar-Field in the K-Guard. PH overcame an early 22-4 deficit to lead the Indians
in the second half, before slipping down the stretch. PH (9-1) looked good in their other tournament wins before soundly defeat-ing Franklin County 62-47 in their Western
Valley opener Tues-day night.
#2- William Flem-ing- The Colonels (8-2) held tough before falling to Gar-Field in the K-Guard title game Friday night. By virtue of their win over Salem in round-two, Fleming moves up one spot from last week.
#3- Cave Spring- The Knights (8-4) jumped over Salem af-ter their 13-point win over the Spartans Tuesday night in the River Ridge opener for both teams. The win evidenced Cave
Spring's strength when they have a full lineup on the court.
#4- Salem- Salem (7-3) fared well in the K-Guard, but their 58-45 loss to Cave Spring showed some weaknesses against a good defense. Still, look for Kevin Garst's squad to rattle some cages in the River Ridge.
#5-(tie) Hidden Valley and Glenvar- Hidden Valley (5-5) made amends for a disap-pointing 0-3 in the K-Guard by opening River Ridge play Tuesday night with a 22-point road win at Blacksburg. Glenvar cracks the Top-5 at 10-4 after their Three Rivers opening win against Auburn.
We close this week with the Wild-Bill Sugar Bowl commen-tary. The Hokies have nothing to hang their heads over, despite the tough 23-20 overtime loss to Michigan in Tuesday night's overtime thriller.
The spotlight performers were many. Logan Thomas showed his class and savvy at quarterback. Danny Coale was a MVP choice. In this reporter's
opinion, the overtime catch was good. (The Publisher, however, takes the opposing point of view, though Coale gets an A+ for effort as usual.)
Tech backup kicker Justin Myer performed beyond every-one's expectations after an ar-rest and curfew violation forced the Hokies to go deep in the charts. Congrats to Myers on a Sugar Bowl performance that was very sweet.
On the downside, Beamer-ball calls were a flop. But it gives hope. Tech can be a major play-er in college football with these guys if the people in charge give them a chance. They need the scheduling the players deserve to prove their place among col-lege football's elite.
But, as long as the powers that be in Blacksburg schedule the likes of Austin Peay, West-ern Carolina and Western Ken-tucky, the Hokie players fight an uphill battle to prove their point to the national media.
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Cave Spring used a strong defensive effort along with clutch play down the stretch as the Knights defeated Sa-lem 58-45 in the River Ridge District opener for both teams Tuesday night at Cave Spring.
Cave Spring (8-4) led 34-25 at the half, before Salem would cut the lead to four early in the fourth quarter. The Knights went on a late run to increase their lead to 15, and the Spartans (7-3) never recovered.
Amin Abuhawwas led Cave Spring with 19 points. Con-ner Baker had a career-high 17 for the Knights.
Alex Light paced Salem with a team-high 15 points.
The 6'4" sophomore also add-ed 3 blocked shots and 6 re-bounds for the Spartans.
Cave Spring senior #33 Amin Abuhawwas makes his move to the basket for 2 of his game-high 19 points against Salem.
Salem 6'4" big-man #54 Alex Light defends against a Cave Spring ballhandler Tuesday night. Light led the Spartan scor-ing with 15 points.
By Bill Turner [email protected]
Arts & culturenewsRoanoke.com 1/6/12 -1/12/12 |The Roanoke Star-Sentinel |Page 9
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New Book Describes Difficult Family Journey and the Healing Afterwards
Making Death Fun?A Commentary on A Recent Taubman Museum Decision
Your son, age 6, dies. Two years later your one-year-old boy dies. Bad things come in threes, and just two years later, after your wife gives birth to an-other boy, infection sets in and takes her life. How would you cope with such loss?
I often wonder how Rowland B. Lacey felt in 1857 when he contacted Lilly Martin Spencer to capture the images of his wife and two sons on canvas. For you see, it was Rowland who lived through the Hell outlined above. It was Rowland who in 1852 lost his six-year-old son, Edward, and who three years later lost his one-year-old son Henry to dehydration resulting from di-arrhea. In 1857, Rowland had to watch his wife pass away after she brought a third son, David, into the world.
Over the course of 1857, Lilly Martin Spencer memori-alized Jane, Edward, and Henry through portraiture. Rowland sent Spencer photographs of his family along with various forms of mourning jewelry for her to use to create the portrait; a portrait that is part of Roanoke, Taubman Museum of Art’s per-manent collection. The portrait becomes a smorgasbord of an iconography of death as several objects serve as clear symbols of mourning, including a slightly wilted rose along with two post-mortem rings on Jane’s right pointer finger, her mourning bracelet, the flowers in her lace collar, and her brooch. How-ever, the most creative icon of death is found in Edward’s but-tons. The buttons on his shirt are roses – some closed, some
open. This is a clear reference to the transience of life.
When glancing at the portrait only two subjects are at first ap-parent: Jane and Edward. How-ever, in Jane’s brooch is a black and white image of a young boy – it is Henry. This is a repro-duction of a postmortem pho-tograph. Rowland had sent to Spencer the brooch that his wife had worn to memorialize their son.
Recently, the Taubman Mu-seum decided to lay the painting to rest in the vault. More note-worthy is that the museum de-cided to display a contemporary version of the painting in the atrium. I know the person who created this reproduction, and I respect him as an artist and what he has done. The gridding pro-cess he used to reproduce the painting is fascinating.
However, two significant ele-ments warrant reflection. First, in the reproduction, the like-ness of Henry is lost; it is just a smudge of grey paint. Second, two holes now replace the faces of Jane and Edward. The holes allow individuals to stand be-hind the work and put their faces in the place of Jane and Edward’s faces. You can take the position of those that Rowland loved so dearly and for whom he turned to art to find comfort in their deaths.
Are these decisions on the part of the museum appropriate? I cannot be the judge as I am per-sonally attached to the painting of Jane, Edward, and Henry. It was my research that uncovered the postmortem elements of the work. But if a museum’s role
is to respect the works of art in its collection and to educate the community, then the decision to turn the work into an almost carnival type experience may be out of line with the Taubman’s asserted professional standards related to “meeting all museo-logical and educational stan-dards.”
Ultimately it is up to each per-son to decide how the painting should be engaged. Perhaps it is fitting at this point to reflect on an excerpt from a letter written to Lilly Martin Spencer in March 1882. In the letter, Mrs. Thomas Brown, a mother who commis-sioned Spencer to paint a por-trait of her deceased daughter, Laura, writes:“You cannot paint her too beau-tiful for my imagination. To me she was all that is lovely – a sweet sympathizing friend – sister and daughter, all in one – and I long for the time when I can once more gaze upon those features – silent tho they be. Those eyes will look at me once more. Those lips shall speak tho in tones too soft for mortal ear to hear.Though silent in body our Spirits are still as one.God grant your genius may grow brighter, and the conception be a perfect Laura Brown.”
If Rowland cared for his fam-ily half as much as Mrs. Brown did for her daughter, how would he feel if he knew the faces of his wife and son were now gone and children and adults were filling those spaces with their faces? If it were your family, how would you feel?
- B. Scott Crawford, Roanoke
Art of Susan Bidwell & Sarah Rutherfoord to Be Featured
The Market Gallery fea-tured artists for January 3 through 28 are Susan Bidwell and Sarah Rutherfoord. Pa-trons can meet the artists and chat at a reception on Friday January 6 during Art by Night from, 5:30 to 9 p.m. The artists will provide gal-lery talks at 6:30 and 7 p.m.
Photographer Susan Bidwell will feature new work that is a result of her quest; “I’m always searching for what I have not yet seen.” Her new piece, an archival ink jet print, titled, “Blue”, il-lustrates what Susan is striv-ing to achieve.
Sarah Rutherfoord, paint-er, printer and mixed media artist, will feature new work through new processes. "I have been experimenting with a new process that uti-lizes several different ways of making art all incorporated
into one image."The Market Gallery, a re-
gional artists’ cooperative, is open 10 am to 5:30 pm Tues - Sat and on Fri night until 9 pm, located at the corner of Wall St and Salem Ave in Ro-anoke’s historic downtown market.
For additional information call The Market Gallery (540) 342-1177 or visit www.mar-ketgalleryroanoke.com
It was painful, it was cathar-tic. A couple, married for 13 years with two children, broken apart when one reveals they are gay. Both are members of the clergy, and both remain re-spectful and loving towards the other. Sounds like a good book, no? Well, it is a new book, one the authors talked about for several years before committing word to paper. Joe Cobb, pastor at the Metropolitan Commu-nity Church of the Blue Ridge in southeast Roanoke City, and his ex-wife, Leigh Anne Taylor, a music minister at a Method-ist church in Blacksburg, have detailed the aftermath of their marriage and the new bond that formed afterward in Our Fam-ily Outing: A Memoir of Com-ing Out and Getting Through.
Cobb, while in Kansas, re-vealed to his then-wife that he was gay, after suppressing those feelings for 20 years. Taylor’s world collapsed briefly before she got back on her feet – a trip to the mall to buy a set of clothes she wore once before discard-ing helped. After another year of marriage, as they waited while Cobb decided who he re-ally was, the couple split. “That year was very much like a roller coaster,” quoted Cobb from his new book.
Their children (Emma and Taylor) were just four and six years old. “I thought he was just depressed, a workaholic,” said Taylor as she read excerpts from “Our Family Outing” at St. Eliz-abeth’s Episcopal Church earlier this week, as part of the kickoff to a speaker series the church plans to initiate. “I believe I
went into shock.”Yet even as they signed their
divorce papers Cobb – who fol-lowed Taylor to Virginia several years after she had relocated to Blacksburg, looking for a new start – said the couple remained committed to each other on many levels, because of the chil-dren. One thing helped: “we really just [always] liked each other,” said Cobb.
“We vowed to speak and act in loving ways,” recalled Taylor, who has since remarried. Cobb and his partner are raising two younger children that they have adopted. Taylor even wrote about her dating misadventures with “Bachelor number one,” and the like, drawing chuckles from the audience at the book reading and signing.
The couple was as open and honest as they could be with their young children at the time of their separation. Back then Emma described what had hap-pened to a friend, “he needs to be with a boy the rest of his life,” she explained about her father. Emma was at the reading on Tuesday night, and said what had happened to their parents helped make them more un-derstanding of others from all walks of life. “Nothing fazes us,” she said.
Helping to complete the circle of understanding and acceptance for Taylor was her presence at the Metropolitan Community Church, which serves the local gay, lesbian and transgender population, among others, when Cobb was or-dained as a minister there. She was worried about “that freak
church,” but found that the peo-ple there were “just great folks,” and very accepting. She joined Cobb and others to receive Holy Communion after the ordina-tion ceremony. “That’s where Heaven broke in,” wrote Taylor in Our Family Outing, which will be available on Amazon.com and in the e-reader format. “I embraced [Joe] for the first time in years.”
Taylor said she didn’t know she and Cobb would wind up writing about their experiences in the same book. It’s told in a back and forth narrative, with each getting their viewpoint across on a particular juncture in their relationship. “It was kind of gutsy,” said Taylor. Since deciding to author the memoir in 2008, the two often met to write and discuss their prog-ress at Mill Mountain Coffee in Salem, “crying into our coffee,” as she put it. “There were some things she wrote that I was com-pletely unaware of,” said Cobb, who believes that people in many family dynamics can gain some valuable insight by read-ing Our Family Outing.
Joe Cobb
By Gene [email protected]
Rowland B. Lacey’s wife Jane and Son, Edward memorialized by artist Lily Martin Spencer.
“Blue” - by Susan Bidwell
Page 10 | The Roanoke Star-Sentinel | 1/6/12 -1/12/12 newsRoanoke.com
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Class Schedule: 8:30– 10:00 AM Yoga for Everyone Teacher: Debbie Stevens
10:15 - 11:15 AM Yoga for the Season Teacher: Gail Steele
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Hatha Yoga Teacher: Virginia Balserak
12:45 - 1:45 PM Yoga for Life 2 -Teacher: Debbie Stevens
2:00 - 3:00 PM Yoga for the Heart Teacher: Karen Ughetta 3:15 - 4:15 PM Pilates - Teacher: Stacy Preston
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Yoga & Pilates for St. Jude Children’s Hospital Annual benefit
Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012
Class Schedule: 8:30– 10:00 AM Yoga for Everyone Teacher: Debbie Stevens
10:15 - 11:15 AM Yoga for the Season Teacher: Gail Steele
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Hatha Yoga Teacher: Virginia Balserak
12:45 - 1:45 PM Yoga for Life 2 -Teacher: Debbie Stevens
2:00 - 3:00 PM Yoga for the Heart Teacher: Karen Ughetta 3:15 - 4:15 PM Pilates - Teacher: Stacy Preston
Classes held at The Yoga Center at 1316 B Grandin Road SW
Join us for a day of Yoga & Pilates to benefit the children at St. Jude Chil-dren's Hospital. Give generously. WHY? Six (6) children in Roanoke City & County and 534 children in VA have received help. None of their par-ents received a bill for services because of you and your generous support!
Yoga & Pilates for St. Jude Children’s Hospital Annual benefit
Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012
Raising Money Savvy KidsHelping the next generation
of entrepreneurs get started today from setting up a lem-onade stand on the corner to creating smartphone apps, kids are learning the ropes of run-ning a business early. If you have a budding entrepreneur in the family, what can you do to encourage and equip them to take on the challenges of start-ing and running a business?
Kim Danger, personal fi-nance expert and founder of MommySavers.com, says that even if you’re not a business-minded person, you can help your child or teen grow in this area.
“It’s never too early to start learning about financial mat-ters, whether it’s managing their allowances or starting their own dog-sitting service,” Danger says. “In addition to talking with them about mon-ey matters and being a good role model when it comes to finances, there are some things you can do to help them get some real-world business ex-periences.”
• Take them seriously. If they have an idea for a product im-provement or a service they can provide to neighbors, listen to the idea, and ask them ques-tions to help them figure out how to make that idea a reality. Even if they don’t make a dime, they’ll get a boost in confidence and lessons in planning and critical thinking that will pay off later.
• Don’t do too much. It can be tempting to take over a project and “do it right,” but kids need to learn from mistakes, and to take responsibility for decisions and their consequences. They’ll miss out on those lessons if you do the legwork for them.
• Make sure it’s a labor of love. It’s one thing to come up with an idea to make some
short-term pocket money. But starting a business takes a lot of time and effort, so it needs to be something that they can be passionate about.
Danger says that you can also connect your kids with tools and resources that encourage them to pursue entrepreneur-ship.
Play — A game such as Nin-tendo’s Fortune Street for the Wii console lets kids of all ages have fun while making a vari-ety of business and economic decisions.
• As players make invest-ments and face a dynamic stock market, they can experience the thrill of seeing rewards for their smart financial choices.
• By investing in property to influence real estate value, play-ers can enjoy the fun of watch-ing their in-game communities grow and thrive. Find out more at fortunestreet.nintendo.com.
Learn • Junior Achievement (stu-
dentcenter.ja.org) has articles, games and videos geared to help young people start their own businesses.
• The U.S. Small Business Administration created Mind Your Own Biz (www.min-dyourownbiz.org) to walk stu-
dents through five easy steps to business ownership.
• Yes Kidz Can! (www.yeskidzcan.com) has articles and ideas about Social Entre-preneurism, as well as small grants for kids starting socially minded enterprises.
Experiment • Many kid inventors got
their ideas by playing with things like clay, art materials, building-block toys and even computer software. Give them materials to work (and play) with and let their imaginations go.
• The Small Business Ad-ministration has resources for students interested in start-ing their own businesses. Visit www.SBA.org, and go to the Services page for more infor-mation.
• There are a growing num-ber of competitions geared for student inventors. Look into the Student Ideas for a Better America contest by the Na-tional Museum of Education for students K–12 (nmoe.org/gallery); The FIRST Robotics Competition for grades 9 to 12 (www.usfirst.org); or any of the Rube Goldberg Machine Contests (www.rubegoldberg.com).