Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 14, 1994 TAG: 9403140056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Explore Park Director Rupert Cutler once again is looking for contributions. But they don't have to be cash.
This time, Cutler is hoping Western Virginians have some authentic farm items they'd like to donate to the living-history park under construction in Roanoke County.
Here's Explore's latest wish list:
Barrels (all sizes).
Half barrels (for animal watering tubs, root cellar use, etc.).
Wooden buckets (any size, preferably leakproof).
Stoneware pitchers.
Brass buckets.
Iron trivets.
Pie board/cutting board (for rolling out pie crusts).
"This should be old-time stuff," Cutler says, suitable for using in a park that intends to re-create what life was like on the Appalachian frontier from 1750 to 1850.
If you have items to donate, call Explore at 345-1295.
\ A vote of congratulations
While basketball fans around the state were busy keeping up with a host of high school and college games Saturday on the busiest basketball weekend of the year, Roanoke Valley state legislators had a buzzer beater of their own.
Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, and Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, found the time on a hectic final day of the 1994 General Assembly session to get a resolution adopted that commends the Salem High Spartans for winning the school's first Group AA state championship.
Griffith, who listened to a radio broadcast of the last few minutes of Salem's 67-59 win over Louisa County, slipped away momentarily to call the Roanoke Times & World-News just before 7 p.m. to announce the resolution's approval.
A resolution already had been submitted before to Saturday's game praising the Spartans for winning the regional championship and making it to the state tournament.
When news came of Salem's victory Saturday, however, Griffith passed the information on to the House clerk's office where the words "and winning" were quickly added.
Griffith said the House and Senate agreed unanimously to the resolution.
\ Speaking out
Sometimes just asking the right question can lead to a change in state law.
Just ask state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville.
Marye said he received many inquiries last year from concerned parents throughout his district about the closing and consolidation of small, neighborhood schools.
In one case, Marye said he was asked, "Why wasn't a public hearing held?"
On looking into the situation, Marye discovered that only school systems with an enrollment of more than 15,000 students are required to hold public hearings on consolidating schools and changing attendance boundaries.
Marye said everyone should have a chance to voice an opinion, regardless of the size of a school system. So he introduced a bill that required all school boards in Virginia, regardless of size, to hold public hearings before consolidating schools or redrawing school boundaries.
Marye won half the battle. The General Assembly approved the bill that requires a public hearing before closing and consolidating any school, regardless of size.
But the legislature kept the cutoff of 15,000 students for mandated hearings on attendance boundaries. School systems with fewer than 15,000 will not be required to have hearings.
Marye said a half loaf is better than none. When a school is going to be closed or consolidated, he said, parents can voice their feelings.
\ Big bucks from the Big Apple?
The Washington Post reported that Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., made a fund- raising visit to New York City last Monday, accompanied by his wife, Lynda, and mother-in-law, Lady Bird Johnson.
Lynda and Lady Bird were spotted shopping around town, but word is they were also there to consult with socialite Brooke Astor about a high-rolling fund-raiser down the road, the Post said. Robb is likely to face the well-financed Oliver North in his re-election bid.
\ Where I come from . .
The abysmal weather has finally reached the highest levels of government. Indeed, the Post reported last week, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy was so disgusted with the handling of snow in the nation's capital he actually took to the Senate floor to gripe. Said he:
"I think one might justifiably ask the local government if they could take a day or so to actually teach people how to remove snow. It is absolutely ridiculous.
"I will not go into the usual bit about people who come barreling down the road, thinking they can stop on ice or snow, because that is obvious, and they have the car repair bills to prove it. . . .
"I think the only way I could compliment those who are supposed to keep our streets clean is to say that they are very religious people. They have an abiding faith - faith that if God put the snow there, God and God alone will take it away. Because, God knows, they are not going to."
by CNB