Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 18, 1994 TAG: 9407180083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jim Robertson, a real estate agent with Century 21 Young Realty in Salem, is used to dealing with banks and mortgages, but he's not averse to a little creative financing.
When he put "Wheels-Will Deal" at the top of a classified ad in the Roanoke Times & World-News for a house he is selling, he meant it.
A little farther down, the ad reads, "Will Accept Late Model Lge. 6 Pass. Car As Down Payment."
Robertson's daughter, Susan Below of Marietta, Ga., has three children and another on the way. She told her father she needs a big vehicle to haul the kids around. Her husband recently was laid off from his job, so Robertson figured he would help his daughter by taking a car as down payment on the sale of a home he owns.
"She really wants a van," Robertson said, "so she'll have room enough to separate all those [children]."
\ Reducing red ink
The Roanoke area may soon get its own chapter of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan grass-roots organization devoted to reducing the federal budget deficit.
About 40 people showed up last week for a meeting at the Radisson Patrick Henry Hotel, where local co-chairmen and former U.S. Reps. Jim Olin and Caldwell Butler drummed up support for a Roanoke-area branch of the national coalition. Virginia already has eight local chapters.
The state chapter of the Concord Coalition has invited the four U.S. Senate candidates to a Sept. 18 forum on balancing the federal budget. The event will be held at 7 p.m. at the University of Richmond's Jepson School of Leadership Studies. As of last week's meeting, none of the candidates had responded to the invitation.
\ Nautical namesake
The commanding officer of the USS Roanoke recently re-established ties with the city for which the ship was named, but it was an 11th hour effort.
The ship, a fleet replenishment oiler in Bremerton, Wash., is set to be decommissioned in October 1996 as a "cost saving measure caused by a reduced defense budget and right sizing of the U.S. Navy," according to a letter from Capt. Ronnie L. Barrow to Mayor David Bowers.
Barrow's letter expressed his interest in ending the lack of contact between the ship and the city - until it's decommissioned, anyway. Bowers responded with a letter announcing three forthcoming gifts: a Jefferson cup with the city seal on it; a crystal star; and a "Welcome Photograph of our City (suitable for framing)."
The USS Roanoke, nicknamed the "Polar Express," actually is the fourth vessel to bear the name. The bell of the third USS Roanoke is mounted near the entrance to the main branch of the Roanoke Public Library on Jefferson Street.
\ MS group gets grant
The Blue Ridge chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which serves 45 counties, has been awarded an AmeriCorps grant to provide home care and other assistance to people with multiple sclerosis.
How much money the Blue Ridge chapter will receive has yet to be determined. It will be one of 18 chapters to share in a three-year, $2.2 million grant awarded to the national organization.
The AmeriCorps program was developed by the Clinton administration to provide educational grants in exchange for national service. Many of those who take part in the MS Society grant will be students in health-related fields, and at least half of the positions will be filled by people who have multiple sclerosis, said Fay Painter, executive director of the Blue Ridge chapter.
Students may earn financial credit toward past or future educational expenses, Painter said. She added that it is not necessary to be a student to work on the project. For more information call (800) 451-0373.
by CNB