ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 6, 1996 TAG: 9602060048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: what's on your mind?
SOURCE: RAY REED
Q: Why don't municipalities and the Virginia Department of Transportation use wing snowplows on trucks? These can clear two lanes with one pass and make more sense than using graders and front-end loaders to move drifts back.
C.P., Riner
A: Virginia prepares itself to deal with moderate snowfalls, figuring it's a waste to buy big equipment when deep snows are rare.
The winter of 1995-96 was excluded from that figuring, of course.
Wing plows are V-shaped, taller and wider than most snow blades in Virginia. They're used up north, especially in areas like Buffalo, N.Y., and Green Bay, Wis.
Virginia road crews have few trucks big enough to mount a wing plow, much less drive it through a Buffalo-size snowdrift.
VDOT engineers attended a "snow seminar" last week looking for new ideas and equipment - not because this winter's been a near whiteout, but because these seminar/trade shows are held every couple of years.|
Youth hoops hours
Q: I'm an elementary school teacher, and I'm concerned because a number of pupils say they're playing recreation-league basketball games that start as late as 9 p.m. on weeknights. What is the latest these games can start?
P.E., Roanoke
A: Recreation-league games for youngsters in the elementary age group are supposed to start no later than 8 p.m., said Vic Garber, superintendent of recreation for Roanoke.
The rec-league program operates in five school gyms in Roanoke, usually with three games a night starting at 6, 7 and 8.
Obviously, certain delays can occur. It's typical for rec-league teams not to have enough players to start a game.
Game officials are authorized to wait five minutes for enough players to show up to put a starting five on the floor. If that delay were to happen in two games the same night, it could delay the finishing time by 10 minutes or so.
Still, Garber said, people usually leave the gyms by 9:10. That doesn't come close to the city's 11 p.m. curfew for youngsters 16 and under, and the curfew wouldn't apply if the youngsters were accompanied by a parent.|
No Lotto repeaters
Q: Has the same combination of numbers ever hit twice in Virginia's Pick 6 Lotto?
J.H., Roanoke
A: No. The chance of a repeat in any of the Lotto's 590 winning combinations to date is one in 11,964, as of Saturday night's drawing.
That's the explanation from Kyle Rogers in the lottery's sales and marketing department.
He calculates these particular odds by dividing the Lotto's 7 million-to-1 odds by the 590 drawings held so far.
The chance of hitting any six-number combination remains 1 in 7 million, even if the number has won before.
Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118, or e-mail RoatimesInfi.Net. Maybe we can find the answer.|
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