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October 24, 2008

Community | News | Per spective

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At 98 ‘Mayor of Hollins’ continues to inspire Dr. Emma Bruce has just about seen it all

Palin to Speak Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin will hold a rally at the Salem Civic Center on Monday. The time has not yet been conďŹ rmed.

Mary Emma Bruce has more aliases than most people, but at age 98, she’s had a little time to earn them. She’s been known as Dr. Bruce since May of 2004 when she earned an honorary doctorate from Hollins University. But before that she was affectionately known by many in the Hollins community as the “Mayor of Hollins.� Prior to becoming mayor she was simply known as Miss Emma, but while she was growing up among seven siblings in what was known as “Oldfields,� an African-American community in

Roanoke County, she was large brown eyes. Despite the lovingly called “little Emma.� fact that Dr. Bruce had only Dr. Bruce may stand just attained a high school edua tad bit under five feet, but cation, Dr. Fillinger put her she’s always had tall aspirato work as a lab technician, tions, and she’s certainly preparing labs and adminisachieved them. tering tests. “I was hired on as a house“Part of my responsibili! keeper at Hollins in the ties included catching snakes 1930s,� Dr. Bruce said. “But Dr. Emma Bruce in the creek and depositing when I met Harriot Fillinger, them live into clear containhead of the chemistry departers so the students could ment at Hollins, well, that was my lucky study them,� Dr. Bruce said. day.� No one else volunteered to do it, Dr. Fillinger immediately noticed an but the new lab technician was happy intellectual curiosity in the diminutive to accept the > CONTINUED black woman; that was in addition to challenge. And the sparkle of mischief in Dr. Bruce’s years later a re- P3: Bruce

[Campaign 2008]

Former U.S. Senator George Allen Stumps for Goodlatte, McCain

Kennedy Visit

P5– Ethel Kennedy signs autographs after speaking briey at the home of former State Congressman Dick Cranwell. Photo by Stuart Revercomb

Senator Barack Obama made a whirlwind tour through Roanoke last Thursday rallying thousands of enthusiastic Democrats at the Roanoke Civic Center. (Above) Obama looks into the camera as he drives home his message on “doing more for the middle class.� (Top Right) Protesters from a nearby Republican rally march outside as “Joe the Plumbers,� carrying a sign that reads: “It doesn’t take a plumber to know that Obama’s taxes stink.� (Bottom Right) Mayor David Bowers, flanked by Councilman Dave Trinkle and family and other members of City Council, extends a friendly wave as he waits for Obama to take the stage.

Obama Rallies Roanoke

Raiders Take off P7– North Cross Raiders continue to impress with another big win over Brunswick.

One big story about Barack Obama’s campaign stop at the Roanoke Civic Center last week was certainly that the Democrat became the first major party presidential nominee to campaign in the Star City since John F. Kennedy in 1960. High winds prevented Obama from making a previous stop here in February, when he was still battling Hillary Clinton for the Democrat nomination. With Virginia in play as a

Photo by Valerie Garner

George Allen and Bob Goodlatte rally the troops in Roanoke on Monday.

possible Democrat win for the first time in 40-plus years Roanoke has seen its share of attention from the party this fall. The other story from last Friday’s rally was how many schoolaged children showed up - from high school on down. Many had excused absences and some got extra credit for watching a slice of living history. That was the case with some government class students. At Glenvar High School a

list of student names with excused absences simply contained the word “Obama� in one column. City Council members Gwen Mason and Dave Trinkle sat in a front row seat with their schoolage children, joined by other members of council and Mayor David Bowers. Local college students also took the opportunity to skip school in some cases, > CONTINUED part of the P2: Obama

A “Victory 2008� bus rolled into the Crossroads K&W cafeteria on Monday morning, carrying State Senator Ralph Smith and Republican incumbent 6th District Congressman Bob Goodlatte, who is up for election next month. Former U.S. Senator and Governor George Allen joined them. Also on board was Kathy Terry, National Committeewoman for the Republican Party of Virginia. Asked about former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s endorsement of Democrat Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid Terry said, “it was not a surprise.� She felt he was pressured and speculated that Powell’s endorsement was politically motivated. Terry believed Powell – a Republican and George W. Bush’s first Secretary of State - waited late to pick the potentially winning side, in order to further his own personal political ambitions. Smith introduced Bob Goodlatte, who thanked the first term state senator for taking his conservative values to Richmond. Goodlatte then challenged the crowd to “carry the message� to those who seek freedom of opportunity, in contrast to those who believe that big government can solve all problems. “We have to turn that tide,� said Goodlatte. Allen was still pumped from Sunday’s Martinsville Speedway race, where Todd Palin, husband of Republican Vice-Presi> CONTINUED P2: Allen-Goodlatte

Safety Offenses Increase at Patrick Henry High School

Public Display P11– A piece of sculpture by Eldon Slick of Tucson, AZ is on display in front of Fire Station #7 on Memorial Ave.

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In 2003, amidst increasing public concern for school safety, the Roanoke School Board formed a School Safety and Discipline Task Force. In 2004 that task force offered its recommendations for improving security, and the School Board in turn increased the budget for school safety to 1.16 million around a 525,000 dollar increase. But over the following three years safety offenses at Patrick Henry High School have continued to rise, according to Safe School Information Resource figures (SSIR). Between the 2005-2006 and 20062007 school years at Patrick Henry, “weapons offenses� rose from 9 to 25, “offenses against students� rose from 65 to 74, “offenses against staff � rose from 31 to 51, “other offenses against persons� rose from 118 to 146, “alcohol, tobacco and other drug offenses� rose from 56 to 92, and “other offenses� rose from 463 to 1,189. In fact of the nine measured SSIR categories for school safety only one was down, property offenses, dropping from 36 to 33. Asia Jones, Executive Director of Student Services for Roanoke City Schools, points out that the figures may not be as bleak as they appear. The methods and manner in which safety

School - School Safety

Virginia’s accreditation standards require school report cards to include information about school safety. The Offense Categories that are listed are the same as the offense categories defined in the Safe Schools Information Resource (SSIR) available on the VDOE Web site.

School - School Safety Offense Category Weapons Offenses Offenses Against Student Offenses Against Staff Other Offenses Against Persons Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Offenses Property Offenses Disorderly or Disruptive Behavior Offenses Technology Offenses All Other Offenses

2005-2006 9 65 31 118

2006-2007 25 74 51 146

2007-2008 * * * *

56

92

*

36 26

33 2,675

* *

0 463

238 1,189

* *

Key: < = A group below state definition for personally identifiable results - = No data for group * = Data not yet available

The Commonwealth of Virginia provided the above data on Patrick Henry High School in a report released on Monday October 20th through the “Virginia School Report Card� program. The report covers all aspects of Patrick Henry’s success including accreditation, adjusted pass rates, school safety, percentage of students passing, AYP objectives, advanced program information, graduation/ dropout information and teacher quality. offenses are recorded at the state level can change from year to year. Each offense category, for instance “offenses against persons,� lumps together multiple types of safety offenses. “Offenses against persons� range from “kidnapping� to “hazing� under the SSIR. Offense types can also move between categories from year to year. That is to

say what counts as an “other offense� one year could count as a “weapons offense� the next (possession of toy guns made that switch in ‘06-‘07), or a completely new offense could be added to the umbrella of “offenses against students.� “There could be under one umbrella 15 offenses in one school year, and

the next school year under that same umbrella it could be 25 offensesâ€? said Jones. “The numbers that you’re comparing may not be comparing apples to apples.â€? Changes in data management do account for some major number increases. While “disorderly or disruptive behavior offensesâ€? at Patrick Henry rose from 26 in ‘05-’06 to 2,675 in ’06-’07, that increase largely reects the inclusion of “minor insubordinationâ€? in the ‘06-’07 tally (as opposed to more extreme offenses under the “disruptive behaviorâ€? umbrella, such as “inciting a riotâ€?). Still, not all increases can be explained by changes in data collection methods. As many specific types of offenses moved from “other offensesâ€? to more specific umbrella categories in the ’06-’07 SSIR figures, one might expect the “other offensesâ€? figure to drop. Yet that figure still rose at Patrick Henry in ’06-‘07 by over 700 incidents. One could also gauge the seriousness of Patrick Henry’s safety offense increases by comparing them to SSIR > CONTINUED P3: Safety

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