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The Roanoke Star-Sentinel NewsRoanoke.com
Community | News | Per spective
February 17 - 23, 2012
[Community]
Finding Solid Ground Hayden Hollingsworth, MD
Honest Doctors
P4– Hayden Hollingsworth considers the importance of honest communication between doctors and patients when making critical diagnoses.
Stressed Out? P6– You’re not alone. A Virginia Tech study will consider how birds react to stress and what the implications are for other organisms, including us.
Art of Foam P9– Mark Cline’s sculptures strike both terror and smiles into the hearts of Taubman Museum patrons.
New Direction P11– VT-Carilion announces three new promotions that will help shape the program at the School of Medicine in Roanoke.
Catawba Sustainability Center Director Christy Gabbard, foreground, sows flower seeds with Hajiro Wehel.
Growers Academy Helps Roanoke’s Somali Bantu Refugees Roanoke’s Somali Bantu community, less than 150 strong, has a few strikes against it. The majority lack English skills, and few are literate in their native languages. But one thing the Bantu know how to do is farm. Enter VT EarthWorks with its training program, developed in partnership with Virginia Cooperative Extension, called the Growers Academy. The academy teaches crop-growing techniques and business-plan tactics. Plus it connects growers with markets. “It’s a dream come true,” says Mahammudi Mganga, one of the farmers who learned through the academy that Virginia farming practices differ vastly from those of Somalia. Hajiro Wehel, also a Bantu farmer, explains, “We used to farm by our hands, by ourselves. Sometimes if you could afford it you could use machines. All the time back there it was always summer. We didn’t have snow or anything.” Because the language barrier restricted other job opportunities for the Bantu, the academy’s focus on farming allowed the refugees to consider making money from familiar crops: tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins.
“I’m ready to be a farmer here,” Wehel says. As a result of the eight-week program, she and the four other Bantu participants grew vegetables on a half-acre plot at the Catawba Sustainability Center. They sold their crops at the Catawba Valley Farmers Market, run by VT EarthWorks, and at Local Roots Café in Roanoke. They also grew flowers with help from Holly Scoggins, director of the Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech, and Sheri Dorn, Roanoke-based extension agent. The focus on the Bantu came about through collaboration between VT EarthWorks and Virginia Tech’s Coalition for Refugee Resettlement, a program of the Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships. Recently VT EarthWorks and Virginia Cooperative Extension launched the third Growers Academy, and once again it includes refugees, this year from Sudan and Burma. Like the Bantu, these participants grew crops in their native lands and now hope to start their own agriculture-oriented businesses on American soil. By Andrea Brunais • info@newsroanoke.com
Republican Mayoral Candidate Enters Race
Mark Lucas, 47, had a political gleam in his eye in June of 2009. At the time Chris Head was announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the 17tth House of Delegates and Lucas assisted with some of the details the day of the announcem e n t . Head later came in Mark Lucas second to Bill Cleaveland in a five-way primary. Cleaveland resigned after one term and Head is now representing the 17th district. When asked at the time why he wasn’t running for the office himself Lucas said that he had been asked to enter the race by retiring Delegate William Fralin. He hinted that maybe someday a political run might be possible but business and family were keeping him busy. “The time was just not right,” he said. With that bit of history it comes as less of a surprise that he is the mayoral candidate that Republican City Committee Chair Chris Walters was rumored to be courting in early January. Walters convinced him “the time was right.” Delegate Chris Head took time from the 2012 General Assembly Session to praise his friend of 15 years who he had worked with at Xerox. “I know him to be extraordinarily thorough, competent, professional ethical and above all, principled. He knows how to get things done, how to successfully manage organizations, and how to > CONTINUED P2: Mayoral
City Highlights Arts & Culture Progress Are Mutts Smarter Than Purebred Dogs? Among the biggest victims of the economic recession are the once beloved family pets surrendered to shelters as their owners deal with extended joblessness. The U.S. Humane Society estimates 6 to 8 million dogs and cats enter shelters each year – and 3 to 4 million are euthanized. “We don’t have firm numbers but we know anecdotally that the communities that have been hardest hit by the ecoRuby: a beagle nomic downturn are seeing that reflected mix adopted from in their shelter intake numbers,” says Inga Angels of Assisi. Fricke, director of sheltering issues for the U.S. Humane Society. “And, unfortunately, while the majority of the public is in favor of adopting pets from shelters, very few – usually about 20 percent – actually do. That has recently gone up slightly to the mid-20s.” Fricke and retired police officer Irvin Cannon, a confirmed dog lover whose new book, For the Love of Dog Tales gives voice to man’s best friend, hope people getting back on their feet will consider adopting a shelter dog. > CONTINUED, P2: Mutts
It’s no accident that Susan Jennings, the arts and cultural coordinator for Roanoke City, is based in the economic development department. The city has hitched its wagon in part to promoting the arts as an economic engine, with financial support for the Taubman Museum’s construction and for other cultural institutions in the city. About a year ago Jennings and company put together a draft of an arts and cultural plan, which was then made public. “When businesses look at regions, once they get past all of the infrastructure [needs], the quality of life amenities [like] arts and culture… play into it,” said Jennings, “and the city sees that importance.” Community meetings were held with artists and other stakeholders, asking them what they wanted to see in
Photo by Gene Marrano
Public art like this piece at the Roanoke Civic Center is part of the city’s cultural plan. such a document. Tweaks were made as a result and in August 2011, City Council adopted the document as part of Roanoke’s Comprehensive Plan. The Roanoke Arts Commission then assembled an implementation committee to put it into mo-
tion. “All of the actions and ideas in the plan came from the community, basically,” said Jennings. The Arts Commission, a volunteer board that includes > CONTINUED P2:Arts