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June 12 - June 18, 2009
Community | News | Per spective
TheRoanokeStar.com
Cleaveland Takes 17th Primary - McNamara Ousted
Going Farther
P3– Meals on Wheels does far more than what they are known for - taking nutritious meals to the elderly.
Botetourt County attorney Bill Cleaveland bested businessman Chris Head, former Roanoke County Supervisor Mike Wray and two Roanoke City lawyers (Josh Johnson and Melvin Williams) to capture the 17th District Republican House of Delegates nomination in Tuesday’s lightly voted primary. All five candidates gathered with other Republicans at Hotel Roanoke to watch the returns. Outgoing Delegate William Fralin, leaving the General Assembly after three terms, was also on hand, as was Majority leader Morgan Griffith (R-Salem), who has no
opposition this fall, and State Senator long and interesting fall. I look forRalph Smith. ward to it. There are some significant Griffith introduced Cleaveland and differences. The lines are pretty broad,” the other candidates after all the re- he said. turns were in, and was feeling good Living in a small part of the 17th about his party. “We are a united party district, Cleaveland said for starters, going into this election,” he people in Roanoke City and said. Roanoke County will have an Election Cleaveland now takes on opportunity to get to know him: Democrat Gwen Mason in the “I’ve been in the valley 30 years general election November 3. They but a lot of people haven’t had a chance met at her house as he campaigned to deal with me. I’m conservative from door to door in South Roanoke and top to bottom, socially and fiscally. My had a “cordial conversation,” according opponent has some differences with to Cleaveland. “I think we both under- regard to those issues,” he said. Concerning the five-way primary stand that we’re going to have a very
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race with fellow Republicans, Cleaveland said, “we’re all starting from a pretty conservative base. What we ended up talking about is experience and where we came from.” Josh Johnson came in fourth place, behind Cleaveland, Head and Wray. At 30 years old, Johnson said he might run for public office again, under the right circumstances. “I’m just proud of all the people that have been so supportive. We left it all out on the field. That’s all you can ask. I think Bill’s going to > CONTINUED P2: Election
[ ] Waybright Will Oppose “A River Runs Through It …in Salem” Flora in Hollins District Healing Waters
Stephanie Koehler
Bright Lights
P4– Stephanie Koehler explains her love affair with the fireflies of summer.
Well Deserved P6– Deedie Kagey retires with many accomplishments after 41 years with the Roanoke County school system.
Republican incumbent Richard Flora will have opposition for his Board of Supervisors seat in the Hollins District of Roanoke CounCharlene ty after all. The county’s Waybright Democratic party has recruited Charlene Waybright, a Carilion Labs technologist and clinical scientist who pledged to “listen to the concerns of citizens.” Waybright, 41, supports the new fitness center being built in the Hollins District and said earlier this week she would like to see improvements made to the crowded public library branch on Peters Creek Road. A Roanoke College graduate who has twice been elected to the presidency of a Virginia trade association, Waybright has taken issue with Flora’s part time
DRI Says Downtown Roanoke is Alive and Growing
DRI Board Chair Cal Johnson welcomes attendees.
Despite the hasty and unexplained exit of former Downtown Roanoke Incorporated (DRI) president Bill Carder several months ago, DRI officers exuded plenty of confidence at last week’s 49th annual meeting for members and guests. The session was held at a venue DRI that gives DRI one reason for confidence – the new Taubman Museum of Art. The growing number of cultural offerings, the development of downtown living spaces and a comeback by retailers, perhaps drawn to that new wave of residents, has also
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Photo by Wade Thompson
Johnny Rowland holds up a large catfish caught by Carl, a Vet who served at Ft. Gordon in Georgia until 1966.
I
n his book, “A River Runs Through It,” Norman Maclean probably wasn’t thinking much about the VA Medical Center in Salem when he wrote the following: “I am haunted by waters. Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.” Just like Maclean experienced in Montana - the joys of fly-fishing intertwined with the > CONTINUED P2: Healing Waters
> CONTINUED P3: Waybright
> CONTINUED P3: Downtown Roanoke
Old Warriors Gather Again For D-Day Anniversary In spite of financial difficulties 65th anniversary is well attended
First’s Second P11– Star-Sentinel columnist Fred First publishes his second book of essays in his “Slow Road Home” series.
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Veterans of the fateful campaign joined thousands of others as the National D-Day memorial in Bedford held a 65th anniversary observance Saturday. The 29th Army Division Band played, and speaker after speaker came to the podium, reading the words written by D-day veterans, which were eyewitness accounts of the Allied landing at Normandy, France, in 1944. Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-Roanoke) remembered a day more than a decade ago, when the idea for a National D-Day Memorial in Bedford took hold. “[On] the 53rd anniversary of D-Day, the land this memorial stands upon, was set apart from common use in a solemn service of consecration,” Goodlatte said. National D-Day Memorial Foundation president William McIntosh noted that fewer and fewer veterans are still alive, or able to attend observances at the site, built in Bedford because it reportedly had the highest number of percapita losses on D-Day of any locality in America. From the shadow of the commanding “Overlord” arch, (named for the operation’s code name) Bedford area Delegate
Photo by Gene Marrano
Thousands gathered under the Overlord Arch for a 65th anniversary remembrance. Lacey Putney spoke the words of Presi- a radio audience on D-Day. Churchill’s dent Franklin D. Roosevelt: “they fight words were repeated by author Alex not for the lust of conquest, they fight to Kershaw. “The Bedford Boys,” Kershaw’s end conquest. They fight to liberate, they book is being made into a movie. yearn but for the end of battle “There is a brotherhood and a return to the haven of of arms between us and our D-Day Memorial home.” friends in the United States,” “Complete unity prevails said Churchill/Kershaw. throughout the Allied army,” British Richard Howell recited the account of Prime Minister Winston Churchill told Private A. Baker, who wound up on Gold
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Beach in Normandy: “if you could make it to the wall you were safe for a time at least, from enemy fire, but so many of our fine young men did not make it.” Before and after the proceedings, DDay veterans gathered in groups or reacquainted themselves with men they may not have seen since June 6, 1944. M.H. Green was on the U.S. Rich that day as a Navy seaman. He still vividly remembers “men getting blown out of the water …black smoke, and the smell, a torpedo going under [the ship] that night, a whole lot.” After the solemn ceremony, McIntosh asked those present (estimated at some 4,000) to recognize the D-Day veterans in attendance; many had not seen each other for decades, or since D-Day, and came to Bedford from all corners of the country. Roanoke resident and D-Day veteran Bob Slaughter was among those who took part in a wreath-laying ceremony; Slaughter is widely credited with getting the project off the ground. A move to have the memorial placed under the auspices of the National Park Service is afoot, due to debt associated with the Foundation’s annual operating costs of $2 million-plus.
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