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Community | News | Per spective
March 13, 2009
TheRoanokeStar.com
New Regional Jail almost ready for service Keith McCurdy
Healthy Outlook P4– Keith McCurdy discusses four key pillars that make up a healthy person.
New Digs
P6– Local officials and residents cut the ribbon this week on a renovated Gainsboro Library.
Fleming Rolls On P7– William Fleming holds on for a tough victory and heads to state final four.
“Today, we want you to leave here with a positive set of images,” remarked Western Virginia Regional Jail superintendent Charlie Poff on opening day of the new facility. Poff came out of retirement, as a deputy sheriff in Roanoke City, to oversee the project. At the opening ceremony, he praised local state lawmakers on hand for helping restore $11 million from Governor Tim Kaine’s original budget for the project. The final price tag for the regional jail in western Roanoke County soared
to some $112 million. The facility will including a video visitation system, enhelp alleviate jail overcrowding in the abling family members to stay in touch City of Salem, along with Franklin, with an inmate without traveling to the Montgomery and Roanoke jail. The prisoners housed Counties. there will either be on their Regional News “A model of regional coway to a state prison, or will operation,” said Poff to a be serving sentences of 12 room filled with local administrators, months or less. politicians and law enforcement offiThe Western Virginia Regional Jail, cials. which broke ground in February 2007, The new jail, scheduled to receive its will also be LEED certified for energyfirst group of 550-600 inmates by the saving and recycling measures, like end of the month, can house up to 800. saving and filtering rainwater for reIt features state of the art technology, use.
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VDOT hears it: don’t close rest stops The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) was taken to task Tuesday night at Northside Middle Ralph Smith at School, durpublic meeting the first ing: too many of 11 “pubVDOT workers in lic listening “white hats” s e s s i on s” being held across the state regarding possible service reductions caused by budget shortfalls. VDOT is considering closing 25 rest stops around the state, including four in the Salem district. Highway maintenance and the safety patrol service could also be curtailed, and regional management centers may be consolidated. These cost saving measures are being considered after the agency has already cut > CONTINUED P2: VDOT
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A mix of “seasoned law enforcement officers” and newly trained hires will help keep the peace, said Poff. He referred to residents surrounding the prison property in rural Dixie Caverns when pointing out design concessions, like the absence of tall guard towers, which were incorporated to make the jail look less like a prison. Noting the current over-crowded conditions at the Salem-Roanoke > CONTINUED P2: Regional Jail
[Downtown Roanoke]
Asphalt plant protestors have month to gear up
St. Patrick’s Day Parade!
Photo by Gene Marrano
Judy Conyers (right) rallies the troops.
Photos courtesy of Event Zone
R
oanoke’s St. Patrick’s Day parade is a popular tradition in the Star City - and one of the biggest in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern states. The HomeTown Bank Celtic Festival begins this Saturday (March 14) at 10:00am; the McDonald’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade will begin at 11:00am. It will include over 100 entries of all shapes and sizes. It
is estimated that at least 2,000 people will march in the parade. The site of the HomeTown Bank Celtic Festival has been relocated to the parking lots at the corner of Williamson Road and Church Avenue. Admission to the HomeTown Bank Celtic Festival is free. (See related story, “Dogs make unique Grand Marshals for St. Patrick’s Parade” on page 6.)
It has been well established that several residents in the Glenvar area do not want an asphalt plant built on West Main Street, on the site of an old Salem water treatment facility. The Blue Ridge Mountains that provide a backdrop to acres of open space in western Roanoke County may not be quite the same when masked by 75-foot tall asphalt processing towers, conveyor belts and dozens of trucks coming on site daily to load up. By contrast, the low-slung buildings abandoned by the City of Salem when it built a new water treatment plant elsewhere > CONTINUED P6: Asphalt
Mayor Bowers draws on roots / develops softer style second time around “Newcomer” Stephanie Koehler is a regular columnist for the Roanoke Star-Sentinel
Key Player P10– Nancy Agee displays strong leadership as Carilion’s Chief Operating Officer.
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As a relative newcomer to the region, I perhaps have a different perspective on local and regional politics than those who have lived in Roanoke most of their lives. While I actively seek out the knowledge needed to be part of the informed electorate, I, like many others like me, are less likely to be influenced by past drama and entrenched views. However, one subject has fascinated me since my arrival last spring: the love/hate relationship of Roanokers with Mayor David Bowers. Having previously lived through several very divisive mayoral elections – including the one in which DC residents reelected Marion Barry -- the drama of local politics fascinate me. So, I set out to do a little research of my own. Who is David Bowers? What makes him tick? Why does a person want to be Mayor once – let alone twice? And so on…. As I began my research, I asked a lot of people about their opinions of the Mayor. The responses were varied and amusing. When I asked the mayor himself, he
Photo by Stephanie Koehler
Roanoke Mayor David Bowers has always enjoyed being in the “catbird seat.” said, “a friend summed it up for me not quickly and positively -- graciously maklong ago. In my first term, people loved ing arrangements for me to meet with to hate me. In my second term, people him the very next week. hate to love me.” While spending the majority of his life in Roanoke, True to his campaign City Government pledge of “accessibility” – Bowers was actually born in I found gaining access to Cortland, New York where him was quite simple. When I called or some of his family remains. Having also emailed – he, or his assistant responded been raised in upstate NY, I have a very
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strong sense of what his family roots look like. Cortland is a town somewhat lost between the “big city” of Syracuse and the academic powerhouse of Ithaca, home of Cornell University. With manufacturing as a backbone, Cortland is primarily a working class community where the value of hard work and an honest handshake still stand for something. “My dad was a bread-truck driver -- I draw from those strong Irish working class roots,” Bowers said. “When I have to make a difficult decision, I simply ask, ‘what would the bread-truck drivers of the world say?’ Then I try to keep my humor and stand my ground.” Realizing that multiple campaigns for public office tends to air out every detail of one’s history -- I asked what people might not know about him. “I like Opera” he said. “[The] Symphony too.” He proudly showcases a photo of he and RSO’s Maestro Wiley on his desk. “I learned something from watching the Maestro as he starts a symphony performance,” he said. “With a single, deliberate gesture of his baton, the music > CONTINUED P2: Bowers