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Roanoke Arts Festival - October 4-7, 2007

Posted on August 23, 2007 | Filed Under Roanoke Happenings

The Roanoke Arts Festival is coming again!

I just received a press release from the tba: Thomas Becher Agency about the upcoming Roanoke festival and want to pass it on to you.

Highlights of this year’s festival include performances from Judy Collins, Grammy Award winner Ramsey Lewis and the Ramsey Lewis Trio & Little Feat.  Also there will be literature and poetry reading from the faculty and students of Hollins University Graduate Program in Creative Writing (which is a real treat if you’ve never attended a Hollins reading) and of course the Downtown Living Tour.

See more things to do here.

iRealEstate Kiosk at Valley View Mall

Posted on August 14, 2007 | Filed Under Random Real Estate, Real Estate News, Roanoke Happenings

The real estate kiosk at Valley View Mall, brought to you by iRealEstate, LLC is finally here.  It took the better part of two days to get this interactive real estate center up and running.  If you’re an agent and are interested in advertising, call (540) 397-0014.  If you’re a homeowner and want your house advertised at the mall, visit the kiosk and talk to the agent on duty!

Here are some photos from the install!

SimpleViewer requires Macromedia Flash. Get Macromedia Flash.
This is a WPSimpleViewerGallery

More kiosks coming soon to-

Tanglewood Mall
Smith Mountain Lake
New River Valley Mall
River Ridge Mall

Valley View cracks down on kids

Posted on June 29, 2007 | Filed Under Roanoke Happenings

The Roanoke Times is reporting that Valley View Mall has created a new underage policy, to go into effect on July 13, prohibiting “teenagers from hanging out at the mall without adult supervision on Friday and Saturday nights.”

The policy will require anyone under the age of eighteen to be escorted by a parent or guardian on Friday and Saturday evenings after 6:00pm.  Valley View Mall advises ID will be required at mall entrances.

You can read Valley View Mall’s announcement here.  I wonder how many extra security guards and Roanoke City Police officers that’s going to take?

Former Roanoke Postmaster runs for Botetourt Supervisor

Posted on June 12, 2007 | Filed Under Random Thoughts, Roanoke Happenings

My cousin, Billy Martin, former USPS Postmaster for Roanoke, local artist and mediator has been endorsed by the Botetourt County Republican Committee for a seat on the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors, Blue Ridge District.

You can read more from the Roanoke Times and this Botetourt County blog.

Vinton, VA crime locator map

Posted on June 4, 2007 | Filed Under Roanoke Happenings

The Town of Vinton, Virginia has joined the ranks of cities such as Chicago, Las Vegas and San Francisco by implementing an online crime tracker map according to this Roanoke Times story.

It’d be nice if Roanoke City, Roanoke County and other surrounding police departments did the same.  It’d be a real service to home buyers who want to check out the crime stats in the neighborhoods they’re looking to buy real estate in.

You can check out Vinton’s crimes here-  http://vinton.va.crimeviewcommunity.com/

New York Yankees donate $1M to Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

Posted on May 24, 2007 | Filed Under Roanoke Happenings

The Roanoke Times, New York Yankees and HokieSports.com are reporting that the New York Yankees has donated $1M dollars to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund in memory of the Virginia Tech tragedyVirginia Tech President Charles Steger was invited to New York to throw a pitch off the mound at Yankee Stadium Wednesday night.

It’s also being reported that the Yankees will play an exhibition game against the VT baseball team next spring somewhere near the Blacksburg campus.  The Salem Avalanche stadium in Salem, Virginia has been mentioned as one possibility.  That would be pretty cool!

Roanoke City takes lead in new business initiative

Posted on January 31, 2007 | Filed Under Roanoke Happenings

On February 6, 2007 at 11:00am at the Valley View Mall Marble Court (in front of JCPenney on the first floor) the City of Roanoke will be announcing a new online tool to assist the city economic development team in determining new business and retailers to invite to consider the Roanoke region. Through this online portal, the City is seeking input from the citizens and region on who they should attempt to attract to Roanoke. Here’s a short excerpt from their pre-announcement–

In an effort to address the needs of the changing population and increase the quality of life of residents and visitors, a program to aggressively seek and attract retailers to Roanoke will be rolled out on February 6. The City of Roanoke will announce a new Web-based program, MyRetailRoanoke.com, to assist in economic development efforts focused on attracting new retailers and service providers to Roanoke. Join Roanoke Mayor Nelson Harris and City Manager Darlene Burcham on February 6 at 11 a.m. at Valley View Mall’s Marble Court on the 1st floors adjacent to JC Penney. We encourage all local bloggers to attend.

I’ll see you there!

Roanoke Holiday Career and Lifestyle Fair - December 28

Posted on December 26, 2006 | Filed Under Roanoke Happenings

From the Roanoke Connecting People blog of Stuart Mease

The 1st Annual Roanoke Holiday Career and Lifestyle Fair, sponsored by MyHometownJobs.com, will be held at the Roanoke Civic Center Exhibit Hall on Thursday, December 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The fair is targeted to people who return to Roanoke for the holidays to visit family members. The purpose is to showcase employment, lifestyle and entrepreneurial opportunities in the region. Admission is free.

And here’s the story in the Roanoke Times.

Woe to you Hokie Bird!

Posted on September 10, 2006 | Filed Under Rants, Roanoke Happenings

What’s the deal with all the vandalism to the Hokie Bird statues in Blacksburg? Is it some disgruntled local? A rival mascot? Some other group of miscreants? Whoever it is, it’s not really funny and I hope they are caught and prosecuted. From what I’ve read, those fiberglass statues are around $7500 each! Someone needs to be turned over the proverbial knee and given a good spanking.

Hokie Bird statues (a map of their locations [pdf])–

That I May Serve - Nick Brantley Memorial” by Sarah Meadows of Bedford honors the life of Navy Lt. Nick Brantley, a Virginia Tech alumni and previous commander of the Virginia Tech Corp of Cadets.

Hokie Kopia” by Michael St. Germain

Word Bird” by Kathleen Lunsford

Motion Technology for Sea, Air, Land and Space” by Phil Stevens

Everything is Coming Up Roses” by Senior Center art class

Hokie Bird Paints the Town” by Senior Center art class

These people on Flickr love their Hokie Bird statue!

(I will add more as I have time, and feel free to add links in the comments and I’ll add the bird here, thanks!)

Roanoke firefighter censured over website

Posted on August 1, 2006 | Filed Under Roanoke Happenings

From RoanokeFire.com-

An article ran in the paper today: Roanoke Firefighter filing a grievance against the city over job transfer. The article speaks of how Mike Banks, a 31 year veteran and Captain of the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department, has filed a grievance over comments made about his website during a cluster meeting with the Chiefs of the department. Captain Banks hosts a website: www.roanokerumormill.com. The site enables firefighters, or anyone for that matter, to post comments on a message board anonymously. The firefighters have left a wide array of comments over the past 2 years on the site. During a cluster meeting last year, Banks states that he was told to take the site down by the Chiefs. The cluster meetings are held at various stations in the City so that other Companies can meet up and the Chiefs can speak to more firefighters at once. I was at the meeting that Banks speaks of and worked for Banks at the time of the meeting. I also heard that the same remark was made at other cluster meetings that day.

I do not think there are too many firefighters in the City who would disagree that there is retaliation in our work place. I am not saying it happens every day, but it happens. Most of the firefighters are not willing to stand up for even the smallest things because of the fear of retaliation.

From Roanoke.com, Roanoke City management responds and comments from the judge considering the case–

“Absolutely not,” said acting Fire-EMS Chief David Hoback.

On June 26, City Manager Darlene Burcham ruled that Banks had no legal grounds for a grievance.

Judge Charlie Dorsey listened to evidence Monday but did not make any rulings. Attorneys on both sides said they will file written arguments within the next few weeks.

Dorsey said in the hearing that the city has no right to order Banks to take down the Web site, but also noted that rights of free speech and rights of the workplace “are not always completely separate.”

Roanoke County homes evacuated

Posted on July 28, 2006 | Filed Under Roanoke Happenings

A tractor trailer accident on Interstate 81 yesterday presented a huge problem for Roanoke County Fire and EMS professionals.  According to The Roanoke Times:

The tractor-trailer was carrying sodium hydrosulphite…a hazardous chemical that produces fumes when in contact with water.

Firefighters evacuated about 80 homes within a half-mile of the incident Thursday night before entering the burning trailer…

My parents were among those evacuated from their Hollins homes and spent the night with us!

Roanoke police officers show restraint and professionalism

Posted on July 13, 2006 | Filed Under Roanoke Happenings

A job well done for Roanoke Police Department officers.  Having worked with local and state police departments in the past, I have seen innumerable occasions when our police officers have shown great levels of patience and restraint in circumstances when deadly force could have been used without batting an eye.  This just shows what police officers endure regularly for the safety you and I take for granted.  So the next time you encounter a police officer and maybe they’re not as friendly as you think they should be, remember they don’t know whether you are the next person to pull a gun and shoot them or not.

Oops back behind bars

Posted on July 10, 2006 | Filed Under Roanoke Happenings

Oops the snow monkey behind bars
Photo from WDBJ7

Oops the errant snow monkey is officially captured according to this story by The Roanoke Times. He was spotted by a resident of the Garden City area behind her home in the Mill Mountain Estates neighborhood, about one mile from the zoo. After about two hours of following the monkey through the trees, the zoo staff and Roanoke City animal control officers tranquilized Oops and returned him home to his cage. The monkey will be quarantined for about thirty days to make sure it didn’t contract any diseases during its weeklong sojourn in the woods of Mill Mountain.

A week just doesn’t seem like enough!

Update: Oops spotted monkeying around behind hospital

Posted on July 7, 2006 | Filed Under Roanoke Happenings

As a followup to my previous story on Mill Mountain Zoo’s errant monkey, Oops has been spotted foraging behind Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Patients and staff watched the Japanese Macaque in the trees on the side of Mill Mountain before the zoo staff arrived with bananas and binoculars. Oops promptly disappeared again.

Crazy snow monkey! Someone should adopt him!

On a whim, I searched to see how far this story has gone, the AP picked it up and it has been reported in–

Monkey on the lam in Roanoke

Posted on July 3, 2006 | Filed Under Roanoke Happenings

Oops!  A monkey escaped from the Mill Mountain Zoo yesterday.  Be on the lookout for a 20-pound Japanese macaque on Mill Mountain or in the vicinity.  (In all seriousness though…the monkey can be dangerous if it feels threatened, so don’t try to capture it, call the zoo or authorities.)

keep looking »