ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 29, 1996 TAG: 9602290071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: What's on your mind?
SOURCE: RAY REED
Q: I'd like some information about Roanoke County and the bond issue that's being proposed. How many bonds are outstanding now? What are the amounts, what were they for, and when will they be retired?
I.P., Roanoke County
A: Total debt is $137 million.
About $65 million is for the Spring Hollow reservoir and other water projects, to be paid by water rates over the next 40 years.
Schools account for almost $37 million of debt. Other government projects have $35 million outstanding. These include the 911 system, libraries, road improvements and closing the Dixie Caverns landfill.
General-obligation bonds are issued for 15 to 20 years, said Diane Hyatt, county finance director.
School projects the past nine years are worth reviewing. Debt is the way the county finances all large capital expenditures. These figures are from June 30.
From 1988: $6.3 million still owed for added space at Bent Mountain and Back Creek elementaries plus Glenvar, Northside and William Byrd high schools.
From 1989: $12.3 million for space at Cave Spring, Glenvar and Mason's Cove elementaries, Cave Spring and Glenvar high schools, plus William Byrd Middle and the Career Center.
From 1993: $7.8 million for space at Back Creek, Mason's Cove and Cave Spring elementaries, Glenvar Middle and Northside High. Air conditioning worth $3.5 million went into elementary schools that year.
From the current fiscal year: $8.2 million at Northside High and Middle schools, William Byrd High, and Fort Lewis and Glenvar elementaries.
Christmas leftovers
Last week, a reader asked why Roanoke hadn't picked up residents' Christmas trees.
More information was needed. The city's recycling program collected trees for four days during the third week in January, and they were ground into mulch.
A snowstorm knocked out tree pickups on Friday of that week, and those were the trees picked up by garbage crews last week.
Symbolic staff
Q: I've wondered for years about the meaning of the symbol on hospitals that shows a serpent around a staff.
R.M., Goodview
A: That staff is called a caduceus. Its origins lie in Greek mythology.
The typical caduceus has one or two serpents coiled around it, with wings at its top.
The wings originally didn't have anything to do with medicine; they're the product of a latter-day mixup with a winged staff carried by the Roman god Mercury.
The medical caduceus is associated with Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. Asclepius was pictured with a staff branched at the top and entwined by a single serpent.
When Hippocrates advanced the art of healing among the Greeks, Asclepius' staff became the symbol of the physician.
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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