Southwest Virginia Blogs

From the Roanoke Connecting People blog of Stuart Mease–

The 1st Annual Roanoke Holiday Career and Lifestyle Fair, sponsored by MyHometownJobs.com, will be held at the Roanoke Civic Center Exhibit Hall on Thursday, December 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The fair is targeted to people who return to Roanoke for the holidays to visit family members. The purpose is to showcase employment, lifestyle and entrepreneurial opportunities in the region. Admission is free.

And here’s the story in the Roanoke Times.

Tags: roanoke career fair, roanoke holiday career and lifestyle fair

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From the Roanoke Connecting People blog of Stuart Mease–

The 1st Annual Roanoke Holiday Career and Lifestyle Fair, sponsored by MyHometownJobs.com, will be held at the Roanoke Civic Center Exhibit Hall on Thursday, December 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The fair is targeted to people who return to Roanoke for the holidays to visit family members. The purpose is to showcase employment, lifestyle and entrepreneurial opportunities in the region. Admission is free.

And here’s the story in the Roanoke Times.

Tags: roanoke career fair, roanoke holiday career and lifestyle fair

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Copyright © 2006 Roanoke Virginia Real Estate. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is probably using it without permission. Refer to the originating site for more information- http://blog.roanokehousehunter.com/

What’s the deal with all the vandalism to the Hokie Bird statues in Blacksburg? Is it some disgruntled local? A rival mascot? Some other group of miscreants? Whoever it is, it’s not really funny and I hope they are caught and prosecuted. From what I’ve read, those fiberglass statues are around $7500 each! Someone needs to be turned over the proverbial knee and given a good spanking.

Hokie Bird statues–

“That I May Serve - Nick Brantley Memorial” by Sarah Meadows of Bedford honors the life of Navy Lt. Nick Brantley, a Virginia Tech alumni and previous commander of the Virginia Tech Corp of Cadets.

(I will add more as I have time, and feel free to add links in the comments and I’ll add the bird here, thanks!)

Tags: hokie bird vandalism, hokie bird statues

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From RoanokeFire.com-

An article ran in the paper today: Roanoke Firefighter filing a grievance against the city over job transfer. The article speaks of how Mike Banks, a 31 year veteran and Captain of the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department, has filed a grievance over comments made about his website during a cluster meeting with the Chiefs of the department. Captain Banks hosts a website: www.roanokerumormill.com. The site enables firefighters, or anyone for that matter, to post comments on a message board anonymously. The firefighters have left a wide array of comments over the past 2 years on the site. During a cluster meeting last year, Banks states that he was told to take the site down by the Chiefs. The cluster meetings are held at various stations in the City so that other Companies can meet up and the Chiefs can speak to more firefighters at once. I was at the meeting that Banks speaks of and worked for Banks at the time of the meeting. I also heard that the same remark was made at other cluster meetings that day.

I do not think there are too many firefighters in the City who would disagree that there is retaliation in our work place. I am not saying it happens every day, but it happens. Most of the firefighters are not willing to stand up for even the smallest things because of the fear of retaliation.

From Roanoke.com, Roanoke City management responds and comments from the judge considering the case–

“Absolutely not,” said acting Fire-EMS Chief David Hoback.

On June 26, City Manager Darlene Burcham ruled that Banks had no legal grounds for a grievance.

Judge Charlie Dorsey listened to evidence Monday but did not make any rulings. Attorneys on both sides said they will file written arguments within the next few weeks.

Dorsey said in the hearing that the city has no right to order Banks to take down the Web site, but also noted that rights of free speech and rights of the workplace “are not always completely separate.”

Tags: roanoke city fire department, roanoke city firefighters

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From RoanokeFire.com-

An article ran in the paper today: Roanoke Firefighter filing a grievance against the city over job transfer. The article speaks of how Mike Banks, a 31 year veteran and Captain of the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department, has filed a grievance over comments made about his website during a cluster meeting with the Chiefs of the department. Captain Banks hosts a website: www.roanokerumormill.com. The site enables firefighters, or anyone for that matter, to post comments on a message board anonymously. The firefighters have left a wide array of comments over the past 2 years on the site. During a cluster meeting last year, Banks states that he was told to take the site down by the Chiefs. The cluster meetings are held at various stations in the City so that other Companies can meet up and the Chiefs can speak to more firefighters at once. I was at the meeting that Banks speaks of and worked for Banks at the time of the meeting. I also heard that the same remark was made at other cluster meetings that day.

I do not think there are too many firefighters in the City who would disagree that there is retaliation in our work place. I am not saying it happens every day, but it happens. Most of the firefighters are not willing to stand up for even the smallest things because of the fear of retaliation.

From Roanoke.com, Roanoke City management responds and comments from the judge considering the case–

“Absolutely not,” said acting Fire-EMS Chief David Hoback.

On June 26, City Manager Darlene Burcham ruled that Banks had no legal grounds for a grievance.

Judge Charlie Dorsey listened to evidence Monday but did not make any rulings. Attorneys on both sides said they will file written arguments within the next few weeks.

Dorsey said in the hearing that the city has no right to order Banks to take down the Web site, but also noted that rights of free speech and rights of the workplace “are not always completely separate.”

Tags: roanoke city fire department, roanoke city firefighters

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A tractor trailer accident on Interstate 81 yesterday presented a huge problem for Roanoke County Fire and EMS professionals.  According to The Roanoke Times:

The tractor-trailer was carrying sodium hydrosulphite…a hazardous chemical that produces fumes when in contact with water.

Firefighters evacuated about 80 homes within a half-mile of the incident Thursday night before entering the burning trailer…

My parents were among those evacuated from their Hollins homes and spent the night with us!

Tags: roanoke county, hollins

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A job well done for Roanoke Police Department officers.  Having worked with local and state police departments in the past, I have seen innumerable occasions when our police officers have shown great levels of patience and restraint in circumstances when deadly force could have been used without batting an eye.  This just shows what police officers endure regularly for the safety you and I take for granted.  So the next time you encounter a police officer and maybe they’re not as friendly as you think they should be, remember they don’t know whether you are the next person to pull a gun and shoot them or not.

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Oops the errant snow monkey is officially captured according to this story by The Roanoke Times. He was spotted by a resident of the Garden City area behind her home in the Mill Mountain Estates neighborhood, about one mile from the zoo. After about two hours of following the monkey through the trees, the zoo staff and Roanoke City animal control officers tranquilized Oops and returned him home to his cage. The monkey will be quarantined for about thirty days to make sure it didn’t contract any diseases while on its weeklong sojourn in the woods of Mill Mountain.

A week just doesn’t seem like enough!

Tags: oops snow monkey captured, oops japanese macaque captured, mill mountain estates

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As a followup to my previous story on Mill Mountain Zoo’s errant monkey, Oops has been spotted foraging behind Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Patients and staff watched the Japanese Macaque in the trees on the side of Mill Mountain before the zoo staff arrived with bananas and binoculars. Oops promptly disappeared again.

Crazy snow monkey! Someone should adopt him!

On a whim, I searched to see how far this story has gone, the AP picked it up and it has been reported in–

• British Columbia, Canada
• Washington, DC
• Cayman Islands
• Cleveland, OH
• India
• South Africa
• Connecticut
• and many more places!

Tags: roanoke virginia monkey, mill mountain zoo

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Oops!  A monkey escaped from the Mill Mountain Zoo yesterday.  Be on the lookout for a 20-pound Japanese macaque on Mill Mountain or in the vicinity.  (In all seriousness though…the monkey can be dangerous if it feels threatened, so don’t try to capture it, call the zoo or authorities.)

Tags: mill mountain zoo, blue ridge parkway

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For those who haven’t heard, Roanoke and Blacksburg now have their own craigslist!

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Copyright © 2006 Roanoke Virginia Real Estate. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is probably using it without permission. Refer to the originating site for more information- http://blog.roanokehousehunter.com/

For those who haven’t heard, Roanoke and Blacksburg now have their own craigslist!

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Copyright © 2006 Roanoke Virginia Real Estate. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is probably using it without permission. Refer to the originating site for more information- http://blog.roanokehousehunter.com/

The Roanoke County Parks Department will be hosting drive-in movies this summer in three of the county’s larger parks.  Walrond Park, Starkey Park and Vinyard Park will play host to “Shark Tale” (June 24), “Shrek” (July 29), and “E.T.” (August 26) respectively.  You can find more information on this great family activity hosted by Roanoke County at the Roanoke County Parks website.

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Copyright © 2006 Roanoke Virginia Real Estate Blog. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is probably using it without permission. Refer to the originating site for more information- http://blog.roanokehousehunter.com/

The Roanoke County Parks Department will be hosting drive-in movies this summer in three of the county’s larger parks.  Walrond Park, Starkey Park and Vinyard Park will play host to “Shark Tale” (June 24), “Shrek” (July 29), and “E.T.” (August 26) respectively.  You can find more information on this great family activity hosted by Roanoke County at the Roanoke County Parks website.

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What in the world is NewVa Connects?

A.  newvaCONNECTS is a new organization devoted to uniting young professionals in the Roanoke region.

For all you 20 and 30-something professionals out there, Roanoke now has a professional organization with you in mind.  Check it out at - http://www.newvaconnects.org/.   It’s about time too, I’m looking forward to the benefits this can bring the Roanoke Valley and NewVa region.

Tags: young professionals roanoke virginia

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It’s been a harrowing few days for the fauna of the Roanoke Valley. Recently I myself have inadvertently (and with much regret) run over with my car a bird and a rabbit. The bird I hit traveling down I-581 in Roanoke City and the poor rabbit ran underneath my car while traveling in the Hollins area. I never saw it, my wife pointed it out. Sad. I also witnessed yesterday a squirrel get run over by someone else and I have noted more than the usual number of dead animals on the side of the road, including a beagle on I-81 heading back to Roanoke from Christiansburg yesterday.

My conclusion- there must be some sort of El Niño effect over the Roanoke Valley now causing mass confusion and hysteria amongst the animals. If you’re furry and you crawl around on four legs best take shelter for a few days until this is over!

Tags: roanoke valley

The folks in Old Southwest Roanoke had an unusual visitor today!  Check out the black bear story and photos of the chase through Old Southwest!

Tags: roanoke old southwest visitor, black bear roanoke

Andrew Kantor of The Roanoke Times wrote a great article on the local bloggers’ effort to help raise funds and collect used cell phones and inkjet cartridges for Baby Ian H.  I had perviously blogged about it here and have a permanent page here.

The Floyd Press also picked up the story about the community’s effort to help Ian here.

The Salem and Franklin County school systems were named academic outperformers by Standard & Poor’s School Evaluation Services.

According to The Roanoke Times 130 school districts were examined in Virginia with 12 districts receiving top marks.

You can read the report for Virginia schools here [pdf].

On my way to work this morning I noticed a tractor and trailer in the parking lot of the Roanoke Civic Center with what looked like an amusement park ride. Guess that means it’s time for the Drew Expo at the Roanoke Civic Center! Click here for more information on dates and tickets and have fun!

Tags: roanoke civic center, roanoke fun