Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 28, 1994 TAG: 9403280063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Ever feel lightheaded at Roanoke Express games - even before your first sip of beer?
Blame your beer stamp. The Roanoke Civic Center stamps the back of each drinker's hand with red ink that smells of paint thinner.
"Maybe that is why our beer sales are down," joked Civic Center Director Bob Chapman. "Maybe people are getting high on the ink."
Seriously, Champman said he would ask the beer vendor to look into less odious inks next season.
The vendor says the smelly ink is necessary because less offensive brands wash off easily - allowing some people to exceed the Civic Center's three-beer limit.
"If we have to continue using this system," Chapman said, "I'm more interested in getting an ink that works with our security system."
High fives for Fleming
Out of uniform, they didn't look quite like basketball players. They were neatly attired in white shirts, slacks and ties. They were relaxed, chatting quietly with each other, showing less anxiety than before a big game.
But they still had charisma.
The players on the William Fleming High School basketball team were treated almost like celebrities by the Roanoke School Board last week.
The players also learned that School Superintendent Wayne Harris has become one of their biggest fans.
Harris said he attended Fleming's last five games before the team went to Charlottesville for the recent state tournament. Harris said he was impressed by their teamwork.
The team, which won second place in the Group AAA tournament, was honored by the board for winning the Roanoke Valley District tournament, the Northwest Regional tournament and being the runner-up in the state finals.
But Coach Burrall Paye and the players did a little promotion themselves for their school - and gave a Fleming T-shirt to each School Board member.
The shirts say: "William Fleming, We're Number One, Basketball."
Taking a 'shine to Goode
State Sen. Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount often gets razzed by his colleagues for his countrified style - and his roots in Franklin County, a locality noted for its prodigious production of moonshine.
Some even think that may hurt his bid for the U.S. Senate in the more suburban parts of the state.
What does Goode think?
"I don't think I'd have a Washington values system," he concedes. "I have more of the value system we have in rural Virginia. But I think a lot of people in the urban areas would agree with that."
Nevertheless, Goode is quick to set the record straight on one thing.
Last week, when he finished a newspaper interview, Goode reached for a bottle of clear liquid near his desk.
"That's spring water," he hastily pointed out. "I didn't want you to think it was something else."
'Shine on
Speaking of moonshine, Roanoke's municipal moonshine mystery continues to unravel.
You may recall that National Public Radio humorist Garrison Keillor recently penned a column for the New York Times about his visit to the Star City. In the column, he waxed poetic about the moonshine he claimed he'd been given by a man sitting next to him at the Roanoke Kiwanis Club.
Both of Keillor's lunch partners - one of whom was Mayor David Bowers - denied all knowledge of the affair.
Last week, the Kiwanis newsletter broke a new revelation on what Bowers calls, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, "Roanoke's Whitewater Affair."
"There have been numerous requests for the source of the `squeezin's' that Garrison Keillor mentioned," the newsletter reported. "It was discovered that a guest of one of our members was the real procurer . . ."
No names were mentioned.
by CNB