ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 11, 1997 TAG: 9702110052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: What's On Your Mind?
SOURCE: RAY REED
Q: I've always thought a person who gets off parole after a felony conviction never gets his citizenship back. A friend tells me that after a certain period you can get citizenship back. Who's right? M.E., Roanoke
A: Citizenship isn't surrendered; convicted felons remain citizens of the United States - provided they were citizens beforehand.
But two important civil rights - voting and gun ownership - are lost with a felony conviction.
Your question is timely; the General Assembly briefly considered a change in convicted felons' rights.
Virginia and 11 other states take away a felon's right to vote for life. A convicted felon also can lose his or her license in certain professions.
Some 240,000 Virginians have paid their penalty for a felony conviction.
Each year, about 1,000 people ask the governor to restore their voting rights - usually around election time. The request is rarely granted.
This year, bills were offered in the assembly to let first-time felons vote after completing their sentences. The bills died in committees.
Some legislators said the measure could extend the voting right even to capital murderers. Others indicated they might support a bill for nonviolent felons.
People who want to own firearms again can petition a circuit court judge.
Those who want to recover their professional licenses - nurses, counselors, real estate agents, doctors, lawyers - must petition the boards of their respective fields.
Licks of the past
Q: Where were the salt licks that gave Roanoke its original name of Big Lick? From an archaeological point of view, how and when were the salt deposits formed? Was Roanoke at one time the Atlantic seashore? E.M., Roanoke
A: The location of the licks is well-documented.
However, the licks were really swamps that have been filled, and we may never know about the events that caused the salt to be here.
Several salt licks, including Big Lick, were just south of Orange Avenue at Hollins Road. Another, called Long Lick, was in the City Market area between Salem and Campbell avenues.
Big Lick was where the city's trash transfer station now sits. The site was filled when a hill was leveled for the railroad shops around 1882.
After that, the Virginia Bridge Co. and successor steel mills used the site for almost 75 years, and no salt remains.
Was the salt here because the Roanoke Valley once was part of an ancient seashore? That's a possibility, said Nick Fraser at the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville.
Another likely way the salt could have gotten here is by sediment buildup from a lake, Fraser said.
Rain may have washed elements such as sodium and calcium from rocky mountainsides into the lake, where they could blend in the water to form salt.
Have a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Call us at 981-3118. Or, e-mail RAYR@Roanoke.com Maybe we can find the answer.
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