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The Roanoke Star-Sentinel December 11 - December 17, 2009
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[Honored Veterans]
WWII Pilot Receives “Legion of Honor” Hayden Hollingsworth
City Market Vendors and Farmers Remain Anxious
Hard Copy
P4– Hayden Hollingsworth loves the convenience of new digital technologies but says that the best memories should be preserved on paper. Mark Woods addresses council.
New Life
P6– Laura Washington overcomes big challenges to discover fresh new beginnings as a writer and wife.
The Game
P7– The Northside Vikings knock off Cave Spring to go to the State Title Game for the first time.
Comfort & Joy
P11– Vocalist Kerry Hurley joins the Lenny Marcus Trio to spread comfort and joy via some hot holiday jazz at Roanoke’s Main Library.
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Photo by Linda Webb
t was bitter cold but clear, as the last strains of “La Marsellaise” resonated into the air around the statue, “Le Monument aux Morts,” at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford Tuesday morning. As a crowd of friends, colleagues, and well wishers – some in uniform - from all over the country waited, a somewhat stooped, 88-year old man with smiling eyes bluer than the late fall sky made his way up the cobblestones with his walker to the front row of seats - to begin a solemn ceremony about to take place in his honor. > CONTINUED P3: Overstreet
Area Doctors Clear the Way for Cataract Patients Many people in south“white cataract,” which causes west Virginia are seeing bettheir vision to be completely ter than they have for some obstructed. time, thanks to an initiative by According to Robinson, several area eye doctors who “these patients are especially donated their services at the excited, because after the Vistar Roanoke Valley Center procedure they can now see for Sight in Salem, where they – it’s pretty immediate.” performed cataract surgery Some patients came from for free. Friday, Dec. 4th was as far away as Danville; Scott set aside to do the procedure Epperly traveled from Chrison 12 patients who were pretiansburg, accompanied by screened to be sure that they his wife Lisa, and their youngqualified for the program. est son, a 17-month-old. Beth Kolnok, Director of While the typical candiMarketing with Vistar, said date for cataract surgery is that cataract surgery “is not a usually older, Epperly is a Photo by Cheryl Hodges long procedure—it lasts about young man of only 35. His Dr. Mark Robinson consults with Antoine Fontus following his 10 to 15 minutes per eye.” doctors speculate that he had recent cataract surgery. Patients can often see “draa cataract at this age because matic improvement, fairly he is outdoors and in the sun don’t know where to refer patients. As quickly,” according to Dr. Mark Robinson part of that effort they have supplied fli- a lot; he owns a concrete refinishing busi(Vistar Eye Center), who served as liason ers to optometrists, clinics and practices ness. According to Epperly’s wife, her and coordinated the event, and will be in the area. There is a minimal screen- husband first noticed a problem when doing the bulk of follow-up care, also free ing process once the patients are referred one of his co-workers asked for his asof charge. sistance in reading a measurement and through Vistar Eye Center. The doctors and staff on hand were Robinson pointed out that “some peo- “Scott noticed he couldn’t read it either, clearly thrilled to be able to offer this ple don’t realize that they have a cataract so he called to ask me to set up an eye apservice for people who otherwise cannot – they may not be going to an eye doc- pointment.” When they found out he was afford the procedure. Robinson says they tor to begin with,” and especially never qualified to receive the surgery for free, hope to make it “an annual event” with dream that they “can have it done for they were elated. Then, she added, “He one of their challenges being getting free.” In some cases, patients “wait un- > CONTINUED the word out to area free clinics who til they can’t see” which is the result of a P2: Vistar
New Owners of Fincastle Church Building Continue Historic Tradition Not much appears changed on the exterior of the former Fincastle Baptist Church but for Wendy and Bob Jones, a lot has changed on both the interior of the historic church (it is now their home) and in their lives since they became owners of the unique building. According to Wendy, it was her “husband’s dream to live in a church building” and they “had been looking at small churches out of town, including Rocky Mount and Lynchburg.” Locations there just didn’t pan out and when the “huge building” (by Wendy’s estimation) in Fincastle came on the market she went along with her husband’s desire to bid on it, actually hop-
ing they would not be the winning bidders. They received the phone call a short time later notifying them they had won, and even though Wendy was in shock for about two weeks, they have since moved in and become quite enamored with the church and are interested in trying to “maintain and continue some of its history.” The oldest part of the building, the sanctuary, was built circa 1895. Wendy and Bob have launched a new ministry, “Operation Christmas Cheer,” in an effort to reclaim a piece of the > CONTINUED P2: Operation
The threat by market vendors and farmers to permanently move their operations elsewhere spurred Mayor David Bowers to issue a press release last Thursday. Bowers said that he has “had it with the administration’s handling of the Market building; they’re not going elsewhere – not on my watch.” The vendors and farmers are contemplating permanent moves to Tanglewood Mall. It has even gone as far as meeting with Tanglewood representatives from New Jersey. At Monday’s council meeting Bowers summed up the situation saying, “what we have here is a failure to communicate.” The Market building is scheduled for renovation beginning July 1 with architectural and engineering plans to be completed by April 1. The Market vendors are on a month-to-month lease and anxiety over the future of their businesses became evident as emotions ran high at the 2:00 council meeting. The strain of the last 10 years manifested itself as Anita Wil> CONTINUED P3: Market
Bond Award Seen As Conflict of Interest for City Council Member
City council members faced a December 15 deadline and a conflict of interest concern as they began discussions about stimulus funding allocations at Monday’s Roanoke City Council meeting. Roanoke’s flood reduction project was a no-brainer for the $1.6 million Recovery Zone Economic Development Bond (RZEDBs). The flood reduction project easily qualified as a governmental purpose project. The Recovery Zone Facility Bonds (RZFBs) were a different story. An independent financial advisor to the city rated all the projects vying for these funds. Karen DeMoors, Senior Managing Consultant with the Public Financial ManageCity Council ment, Inc. ranked the top five projects. The criteria included ratings for financing plans, job creation and project readiness. The top five ranked were: the Patrick Henry Hotel, ranked fifth; Advance Auto IT consolidation to Crossroads, fourth;
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Wendy Jones stands in front of the sign announcing the upcoming benefit concert for “Operation Christmas Child.”
> CONTINUED P2: Conflict
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